The Importance of Reintroducing Large Carnivores: The Brown Bear in the Pyrenees

Abstract

Large carnivores are keystone species in the ecosystems where they inhabit. Their loss may provoke an imbalance at several levels of the ecosystem. Conservation strategies for existing populations of large carnivores and restoration programmes of disappeared populations can help at maintaining the ecosystem balance and foster the perception links of humans with nature. The case of the restoration of the brown bear population in the Pyrenees during the last 20 years is a successful example of conservation measures carried out to assure the coexistence between this species and the local society, which economy is based on extensive livestock, beekeeping and tourism. In this chapter, I describe the role of large carnivores in mountain ecosystems and the context and development of the of the brown bear in the Catalan Pyrenees as an example of the challenges of large carnivore conservation in a rural context but a high influence from nearby urban areas.