Wildlife Wednesdays: Spain is Helping Endangered Bears

The number of brown bears, who are endangered, in Spain sadly is only around 330 that live in the wild. Due to the changing climate, they are waking up earlier from their hibernation and are very hungry, in search of food. This has led to more people encountering bears unexpectedly while skiing, hiking, or just enjoying the outdoors. This is due to bears having a hard time finding food, again due to earlier wake up from hibernation, so they are going to populated places by humans in search of food. Blueberries are one of their favorite foods but do not become ready and ripe until later in the season, leaving bears hungry. The government of Spain decided to take action and save the bears!

They are going to plant different fruit trees that will do better in a warmer climate than blueberries will. "As part of a project backed by the European Union and the Spanish government, 150,000 native trees and shrubs will be planted, producing fruit such as chestnuts, cherries, apples and alder buckthorn across 155 hectares in Cantabria, Castilla y Leon and Asturias," the article mentions. Spain hopes this helps the bear population rebound and thrive and stay away from human populated areas.