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Bears

Peterexpatkiwi said:
I quote an 'Olive Press's article from 2021: "Wild boars are responsible for many fatalities, hundreds of injuries, and thousands of attacks every year across Spain. "
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I find it hard to believe that there have been "many" fatalities due to wild boar attacks in Spain, i.e. wild boar attacks human, injures human and human dies of these injuries. I'd tried to search for such cases in the proper Spanish press, without success so far. In the Olive Press video, the narrator describes wild boars as "highly aggressive" which conveys a wrong impression of this animal's typical behaviour.

As far as I can tell, accidents occur mainly in the context of car accidents (when the car hits the wild boar or the driver tries to avoid hitting the animal) and of wild boar hunting accidents, and even then not necessarily due to a direct attack of a person by the wild animal.

As to fatal accidents (of humans and not bears) in "Camino Europe", there was a widely publicised case in the Italian Alps in April last year where a young jogger was attacked and killed by a brown bear, and this happened in the vicinity of his village. This is also an area where the bear population has increased in recent years and that had been repopulated with bears imported from Slovenia 20-25 years ago or so. WWF said that seven people had been attacked by bears in Italy over the last 20 years and this was the first fatal attack. I've read nothing of the sort about Spain.
 
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Yes it is strange why the CF seems to not have much wildlife, and a conversation that has been had before on here. I did see several deer, first between Hontanas and St Anton and then again on the Meseta, but that was it for my 30+ days. Quite a contrast to what I see in other parts of Spain.
 
Kathar1na said:
I've read nothing of the sort about Spain.
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There was a case last year where an elderly lady was swiped by a bear while out walking, although it was very much thought that she caught the bear unawares and the bear knocked her out of the way to escape. So hardly an attack, but an obvious unfortunate encounter.

Kathar1na said:
I find it hard to believe that there have been "many" fatalities due to wild boar attacks in Spain
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I've never come across anything either. Infact you are far more likely to be "accidentally" shot by a hunter who's trying to shoot the boar! There was a very unfortunate incident a month or so ago of someone sat watching tv in their living room killed by a stray bullet from the local hunt. I'm not sure of the actual stats but I think accidental deaths easily reach double digits each year.
 
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Kathar1na said:
find it hard to believe that there have been "many" fatalities due to wild boar attacks in Spain, i.e. wild boar attacks human, injures human and human dies of these injuries.
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I have to say that I agree. I initially quoted this 'in good faith' as it were, but having done quite a bit of research since I cannot find anything to substantiate it. It does appear that they cause quite a number of car accidents, perhaps, as both yourself and Janet mention, the death's stem from these - but that's not an attack in my opinion.
A case of extremely poor reporting?

However, I also note that several other news agencies talk about 'thousands of attacks' , or '1,200 attacks in Madrid' . For example: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-22/wild-boar-numbers-in-spain-increasing/101356414

I see other English language reports that appear to quote exactly the same figures so presumably the same source. But not being a Spanish speaker I have no way to verify any of this, I'm afraid I simply took it on Faith. Especially when you also see articles on wild boar attacking sunbathers on beaches, let alone hiking.
 
The Spanish love a good bit of drama and rarely allow facts to get in the way of this! It's actually a trait I admire in a world that is so pc and fact-checked.
 
I recall being warned about meeting bears on the trail when I was beginning my solitary climb up the Somport Pass on one of my earliest caminos. I never caught sight of one there, but have some familiarity with grizzly bears from my many years of walking in the Rocky Mountains. My preferred method of approaching one is to recite long poems when told that there is a bear in the area. This warns them of my presence and I can keep at it for considerable periods of time: "The Highwayman," The Cremations of Sam McGee" etc. I suppose I could just talk to myself, but the rhythm of the poetry keeps me walking. I recall one bear peering around a bush to see where the voice was coming from: by the time I had reached the bush, it was gone.
 
Camino Way markers in Bronze
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
Lovely images in the imbedded video . They are obviously looking for food and they are not afraid that they might be turned into food themselves ... I probably should not mention that I had cinghiale in umido last week.

The linked article is also interesting because it asks why are we seeing more and more wild species in towns and cities. Quote: The president of the Veterinary Association of León, Luciano Díez, is clear. "There are more and more animals and they are losing their fear, they are not being hunted much, there are few hunters, and they go where they smell that there is food, wastebins, and waste has smells that attract them," he says.

I was astonished to read in an article not about wild boars in Ponferrada but in Berlin that people feed them in their gardens. I have a friend who feeds foxes who live at the bottom of their garden. I tell her that she must not do it but she does not listen. They are "sooo cute" ...
 
Camino Way markers in Bronze
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.

Two Hikers Seriously Injured After Wild Boar Attack In Navarra’s Ollo Valley Region

Two people have been seriously injured after they were attacked by a wild boar in Navarra’s Ollo Valley region.
euroweeklynews.com

Yes, it's the lack of fear that's the biggest issue.

This is my favourite article though, where they label them ... 'a delicious nuisance'.

Wild Boar in Catalunya: a Delicious Nuisance | NjOY! Costa Brava

Wild boar are nowadays seen as a pest, especially as their numbers are on the rise in Girona in the absence of their main predator, the wolf
njoycostabrava.com
 
Feel for you there, Kathar1na. If your friend became aware that all she's doing is training those foxes to come to their eventual demise at someone else's hand, she might think twice. Then again, maybe not.

There are...or sometimes, there *were* ...people who have not learned (or refuse to learn) that nature demands and will get, respect. Think people who approach elks in rut, or try to take selfies with bison, or go off the path at hot springs, or stand outside and film approaching storms with no nearby shelter.
 
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My long standing wildlife ambition in Spain is to come across an adult Montpellier snake. Big stroppy buggers! I think I saw the last foot of one vanishing into a bush once. Technically venomous but rear-fanged and no real threat to humans. If you do a Google search you find that the best known case of envenomation of a human by one was some bloke who shoved his finger down a snake's throat to try to find the fangs. And succeeded... Sometimes I wonder how our species has survived this long!
 
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I read on internet that, only in Galicia, 18.000 jabalies per year are hunted and one out four car accidents are provoked by jabalies ( one out of three in Lugo province). I visited Galicia these days and some hunters thought that those amazing and incredible ( for me) figures could be correct.
 
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Some years ago, wild boar were imported into Canada by persons who thought that they were a good investment for placement on hunting preserves. This project did not succeed as a profit-making business for very long. After that, the idiots who owned the land removed the fences so these destructive creatures could make themselves permanently at home in Canada. I guess they thought that they would just go away, at least, from their property. They have made themselves at home, and are now permanent residents, busily expanding, and destroying, their territory.
 
When i walked I was worried about bears in the mountains and wolves, especially if I was picthing a tent in the middle of nowhere for any reason. Didn't see either of them. i've only seen the three bears in captivity up near Entrago in Asturias. Never seen a wild bear. Did see three large wolves near Dozon back in 2017, but none last year. Don't worry about Bears or Wolves, it's the dogs that are the real problem.
 
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JLV said:
Hi All, I just saw on google news that the brown bear is on a major come back. It said the northern part of Spain . Be careful
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Hello all , just a little bit of a caution for pilgrims in Galicia, and the talk of bears.
I walked from sjpp to Santiago back in 2019.
And then on to muxia then finisteer.
I got a bus back to Santiago and while I was looking out window minding my own business while everyone else was busy chatting , as the bus rounded a sharp corner, I spotted a black panther walking up a field a way off but definitely a big cat 4-5 feet long nose to tail.
Clear as day out in the open.
So there are bears wolf and cats in northern Spain.
As a fellow pilgrim has said most animals try to avoid humans.

I'm due to walk the G11 in June with a friend Mediterranean to atlantic have been warned of bears and wolves at night.
 
And your point is? All the dangerous predators on the camino routes tend to wear trousers and carry mobile phones. The Bears, the Wolves, the Linx and even the Pine Martens just wish we would leave them alone and a big black cat that tries to avoid buses doesn't seem like an issue for pilgrims either.

For those who like to suckle on the obscurer corners of the internet try here: https://www.theolivepress.es/spain-...uld have entered the,a drug lord in Andalucia.

But for those who just like to be cautious remember that you should never hesitate when crossing the road: that just gives the driver long enough to aim properly
 
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Camino Way markers in Bronze
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
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Pelegrin said:
All the councils mentioned on the article are out of any camino. Between Cangas and Ibias in the area of " bosque de Muniellos" there is a long tradition of bears.
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They would straddle the Primitivo I think? The places named in the article are where the highest densities occur, but the bears will roam far and wide.
 
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JLV said:
Hi All, I just saw on google news that the brown bear is on a major come back. It said the northern part of Spain . Be careful
Click to expand...
Bears are nothing to worry about on the Camino. There are so few in the mountains, if one was nearby, it would have heard you coming and will do its best to avoid you.
 
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They have actually been known to be in Spain for over a year, so the article is slightly mis-leading. Last June/July one was caught on camera traps near Burgos that were been used to monitor wolves, and there was one runover near Álava.

​

 
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Albertagirl said:
My preferred method of approaching one is to recite long poems when told that there is a bear in the area.
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I think that could work with cultured bears; but most of the bears prefer eating than poems:
 
Albertagirl said:
My preferred method of approaching one is to recite long poems when told that there is a bear in the area. This warns them of my presence and I can keep at it for considerable periods of time: "The Highwayman," The Cremations of Sam McGee" etc.
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It would certainly scare me away to the next mountaintop.
 
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