One held in Spain over Pyrenees bear killing

Police in northeastern Spain said on Friday they had arrested one person in connection with the death of a brown bear in the Pyrenees earlier this year.

Known as “Cachou”, the six-year-old bear was found dead in Val D’Aran at the start of April with an autopsy carried out in Barcelona, although the cause of death was not made public.

The young male had been blamed for several livestock killings in the northeastern Catalonia region which borders France.

“We can confirm that a person has been arrested in connection with the death of the bear,” a spokesman for the regional Mossos D’Esquadra police said, without giving further details.

In August 2019, the local authorities in Val d’Aran had called for the bear to be removed from the area, blaming it for the death of five horses.

Close to extinction, the brown bear was reintroduced to the Pyrenees in the early 1990s, with animals brought in from Slovenia.

There are about 50 of them today, but their presence has caused tension with livestock farmers. (AFP)