CATALUNYA is taking a leaf out of the French book by creating an institute to buy natural coastal areas to free them from speculating property developers.
Last modified on Tue 11 May 2021 08.30 EDT
Experts are analysing samples taken from the scenes of four recent attacks on livestock in northern Catalonia to determine whether they herald the return of a brown bear called Goiat who has become notorious for his depredations.
Goiat, who was brought to the region from his native Slovenia in June 2016 as part of an EU project to consolidate the bear population in the Pyrenees, is loathed by many farmers in and around the Val d’Aran because of his taste for sheep, goats and horses.
Three years ago, a local farming union called for the animal – whose name means “lad” in the local dialect – to be removed from the area “once and for all”.