Keyword: Pyrenees

Bears from Slovenia brought in to boost depleted French population, sparking protests by farmers who complain animals are threat to livestock.

A farmer working his land in south-west France discovered the skull of a massive four-tusked ancestor of the elephant believed to have roamed the Pyrenees millions of years ago but kept his exceptional find secret for two years for fear that his property would become an excavation site, the Natural History Museum of Toulouse has revealed.

Brown bears, a protected species, were blamed for deaths of about 450 sheep who fell over cliffs while being chased by the bears.

Mikel Irastorza, aged 41, who has been on the run since 2008, was detained in a house in Ascain, a village near the Pyrénées mountains.

Protestors in and near the French Pyrénées are also unhappy at the protection given to wolves and vultures in 're-wilding' programme.

Officials say the 11 year-old animal, whose 'godparents' were actors Gérard Depardieu and Fanny Ardant, 'probably' died from a fall.