A group of armed and masked men have issued a video in which they vow to start hunting bears in France’s Pyrénées mountains following attacks on sheep, reports The Telegraph.
Brown bears, a protected species, were blamed for the deaths of about 450 sheep who tumbled over cliffs while being chased by bears in two separate incidents this summer.
The threat to hunt them marks an escalation of a bitter dispute between farmers and conservationists over the predators. They were re-introduced into south-western France from Slovenia in the 1990s after hunters had all but wiped out native Pyrénéan bears.
The video, filmed outdoors at night and sent to news organisations, shows about 30 men holding shotguns or hunting rifles, their faces hidden by balaclavas.
A deliberately distorted voiceover says: “By introducing Slovenian bears and establishing a nursery allowing them to multiply, the French state is implementing land management policies that are gradually restricting access by men and women of the mountains and their freedom to work.”
The voiceover adds: “The state has remained deaf to the requests of our elected representatives, our citizens’ and trade organisations. We have decided to reopen bear hunting in Ariège [the local area] and to conduct active resistance against agents of the state.”