The search for easy food in garbage by some bears occurs in all bear populations in the world, also in the Cantabrian Mountains. In recent times, some cases have been detected of bears that approach to garbage containers in specific places, generally in remote or little frequented areas: a challenge that we are tackling from the LIFE Human Bear Coex.
Thus, within the framework of the project, a pilot test of bear-proof container covers has been launched, with a prototype designed by the Brown Bear Foundation (FOP), the IMIB – Joint Institute for Biodiversity Research (University of Oviedo – CSIC – Principality of Asturias), and the Principality of Asturias. This prototype has been installed for the moment next to a small rural village in Ibias (Asturias), in some containers on the side of the road that had been repeatedly frequented by bears.
At the same time, there has been collaboration with the Junta de Castilla y León for the acquisition and implementation of container covers on the Leonese side, in this case following the model developed on the basis of an assessment of the risk of use of rubbish containers by brown bears in this region.
Model of bear-proof container cover installed in Asturias (left) and León (right).
The use of bear-proof garbage containers and container-covers is the most widely used solution in most of the areas where humans and bears coexist. Therefore, during the LIFE project, it is foreseen to place 45 bear-proof bins and 45 container covers, which will be installed on the basis of the conclusions obtained in this pilot test.
As explained in the FOP study, ‘Bears and rubbish in the Cantabrian Mountains. Anticipating new challenges’, these actions can be combined with other preventive and waste management measures to ensure their effectiveness. During the project, action will be taken to clean up landfills or other illegal accumulations of garbage, and information campaigns will also be developed among neighbours about bears and rubbish management.
Pilot test of bear-proof container covers in northern Leon, in the framework of the LIFE project Coexistence between Humans and Bears.
Our objective, together with the 9 municipalities with the highest density of bears in Spain, is to ensure that there is not a single bear in the Cantabrian Mountains that is accustomed to rubbish or other human food sources.
Coordinated by the FOP, LIFE Human Bear Coex partners are the councils of Somiedo, Belmonte de Miranda, Proaza, Cangas del Narcea, Degaña and Ibias, in Asturias, and the municipalities of Villablino, Páramo del Sil and Palacios del Sil in Leon. The regional goverments of Castilla y León and the Principality of Asturias support the project as associated partners, and the Fundación Patrimonio Natural de Castilla y León and the Fundación Oso de Asturias participate as collaborators. The bear-proof container pilot test has been funded by the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, within the framework of the FOP’s URSUS Programme for scientific research applied to the conservation of the species .