Olympic conservation gloom

The European brown bear is one of the continent's most threatened species, being found in low numbers in many of their remaining, fragmented habitats. The largest population, numbering around 160, are found in the Pindus Mountains of northern Greece. But even this population is under increasing pressure from human activity and events such as the extensive forest fires last summer. Conservationists were therefore excited when a group of at least three bears turned up on Mount Olympus, east of the Pindus range, recently. They were doubly pleased that the bears appeared to have chosen wisely: the forests of Mount Olympus are a national park and should have afforded the new arrivals some added protection. But a few months ago, a national park warden saw film footage of a herdsman shooting one of the bears that was hunting wild boar in the forest. The scientific director of Callisto, an environmental group based in Thessaloniki, Giogos Mertzanis, told local press that such behaviour towards wildlife should be a thing of the past. " The motives for these killings are that the bears cause damage. But this should not be a problem as the National Farmer's Insurance covers 100 per cent of the damage. " The brown bear is a registered endangered species and is protected by the 1969 Greek Forestry Code as well as EU law. Heavy fines and prison sentences are intended to dissuade people from attacking them. But further bad news came at the end of August with the discovery of another dead bear. An autopsy revealed that it, too, had been shot. The director of wildlife protection for the Mount Olympus national park said that his commission takes conservation issues very seriously. " We have now launched an enquiry into the most recent case and have filed a lawsuit against the unknown culprits, " he said. But the local paper reported that the police were unaware of any lawsuit. Mertzanis says that the killings are not the result of ignorance. Conservation organisations coordinate seminars and visit residents and farmers, offering advice about how to protect livestock and property. " These killings are not done out of ignorance but out of stubbornness, " he said. The Olympus killings also reflect a wider Greek and European problem. EU-sponsored research by the conservation organisation Arcturos has shown that only 10 brown bears survive only in France and 50 both in France and …