An 81-year-old hunter was sentenced this Tuesday to four months of probation for killing Caramelles, a female brown bear living with her cubs in the French Pyrenees. The incident took place during an illegal wild boar hunt in November 2021, in the Ariège department, near the border with Andorra and the Spanish province of Lleida.
Caramelles, 20 years old, was shot at a critical moment for the species’ survival, as she was accompanied by her two cubs. The accused claimed to have acted in self-defense, stating that the animal attacked him suddenly and that he shot after being wounded. “She was biting my leg, I reloaded my rifle and shot,” he explained in court.
The Foix court did not accept the justification and decided to convict the hunter for killing a specimen protected by French law. Although he won’t go to prison, he was banned from carrying weapons for two years, his hunting permit was suspended, and he was fined.
Exemplary sanctions for the entire hunting party
In addition to the hunter’s conviction, the other 16 participants in the hunt also received penalties. The fines imposed range from 200 to 1,000 euros. Two of them will temporarily lose their gun permits. Collectively, the group must pay €60,000 in compensation to environmental organizations that acted as plaintiffs in the trial.
The associations celebrated the ruling as a step forward in real biodiversity protection in France, especially for endangered species such as the brown bear.
Which laws protect the brown bear in France?
The brown bear (Ursus arctos) has been strictly protected in France since 1981 by the Bern Convention, which prohibits hunting, capturing, or intentional disturbance. National legislation also includes it in the list of protected species, and its conservation is monitored by the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB).
France has also implemented specific action plans for its recovery, including legal measures, awareness campaigns, genetic monitoring, and the reintroduction of specimens from Slovenia.
A species struggling to survive
In the early 1990s, the brown bear was on the brink of extinction in the Pyrenees, with only a few surviving individuals. Thanks to a restoration program started in 1996, the population gradually increased.
According to the latest report from the OFB, in 2024 between 97 and 127 bears were recorded in the mountain range, based on genetic traces. Despite the progress, the species remains vulnerable due to conflicts with hunters, farmers, and habitat fragmentation.
Source: El País.
