Two decades since first bear sighting in Switzerland

Bears have been wandering through Switzerland again for twenty years Keystone-SDA

Twenty years ago today, on July 25, 2005, a bear was spotted in Switzerland 101 years after the predator had been wiped out. Since then, 22 bears have been seen but most only stayed for a few weeks or months.

Only five bears stayed in Switzerland for longer than a year, the Swiss Wolf Group (GWS) announced on the occasion of the anniversary. All bears had migrated from Trentino in Italy to neighbouring Graubünden.

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They were all young males and returned to Italy when they reached sexual maturity. As long as no female bears entered Switzerland, bear visits to the country would only ever be short-lived, wrote the GWS. “However, the increasing bear population in Trentino makes it possible that female bears will also arrive in Switzerland one day,” the experts said.

As far as is known, there is currently only one bear living in Switzerland. It lives in the Lower Engadine around the national park in the eastern Swiss Alps.

Adapted from German by DeepL/ac

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