Abstract
During 2017, we studied knowledge, perceptions, and attitudes towards brown bears by extensive mountain sheep farmers in the Western Pyrenees, using a structured questionnaire, specifically, whether the scarce bear presence, or the administrative region, was influential. Livestock raising practices are mainly family properties and have suffered a strong decline in the last decades. Despite its low abundance (only 2 bear individuals during the study period in the area), there was a generalized negative attitude towards the presence of bears. Farmers considered bear presence as incompatible with sheep mountain herding. One third of them have experienced bear damages, although this was not the main difficulty for the viability of farming practices. They were able to change husbandry practices after wildlife and dog’s damages, increasing vigilance, hiring shepherds, and using livestock guarding dogs, whose work is perceived as satisfactory. Farmers considered that information available about bear and compensation systems for damages was insufficient, and should be improved.
Highlights
After a long period of persecution, brown bear Ursus arctos populations are slowly recovering across several European countries (Chapron et al 2014; Piédallu et al 2016a)
In Europe, attitudes towards brown bears have been described as more positive compared to other large carnivores, such as grey wolf Canis lupus (Dressel et al 2014)
Farmers were sampled using a structured questionnaire with the following sections: (i) general characteristics of the farm; (ii) livestock husbandry practices in summer ranges; (iii) interaction with wildlife; (iv) bears
Summary
After a long period of persecution, brown bear Ursus arctos populations are slowly recovering across several European countries (Chapron et al 2014; Piédallu et al 2016a). Bear presence and recovery in multi-used landscapes can have some negative impacts, and associated level of conflicts, either because of livestock, beehives or crop damages (e.g., Bautista et al 2017; Naves et al 2018), attacks on humans and fear (Johansson et al 2012; Bombieri et al 2018), or conflicts driven by different human land uses and regulations, such as in the case of balancing ecotourism activities with bear conservation (Planella et al 2019). All these factors could influence on attitudes towards the
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