The annual census of brown bears in the Pyrenees mountain range of Spain, France and Andorra estimated that 130 bears are now living in the region with an average annual population growth rate of more than 11% over the last 18 years. The subpopulation of Pyrenees brown bear (Ursus arctos arctos) has been steadily increasing in the mountain range since it reached near extinction in the mid-1990s, when the local population reached a low of just five individuals. Since 1996, 11 bears have been reintroduced from Slovenia to help save the population. But just three of those bears had most of the babies: 85-90% of the Pyrenees bears alive today descend from two females and one male. Inbreeding is a growing risk as the bears enter their third or fourth generation with few unrelated bears available to mate with. “We can no longer turn a blind eye, it is urgent to stop inbreeding, at the risk that it will become uncontrollable and permanently harmful to the population of brown bears,” Alain Reynes, director of Pays de l’Ours – Adet, a French conservation organization focused on bears, wrote in a statement. “There is still time, but inaction is no longer an option.” In 2025, eight cubs were born, down from 24 cubs the year before. Only two are not related. The other identified cubs have an inbreeding rate of 20-28%, similar to that of first cousins. The inbreeding rate shows us high levels of consanguinity which may affect the future of…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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