A female Iberian brown bear, the first to be captured in decades, lies anaesthetised while veterinarians perform a health check-up as part of a special program monitoring and protecting the species, in Villarino, Spain, September 8, 2021. REUTERS/Juan Medina
VILLABLINO, Spain (Reuters) - Spain's brown bears, once nearly extinct, stray into the mountain villages in the north of the country so often these days that the regional government of Castile and Leon has set up a patrol for locals to report animals on the prowl.
The patrol, which has nine rangers, protects residents and their crops in the mining town of Villablino, in the nearby province of Palencia, and other surrounding areas, aiming to keep the endangered Iberian brown bears safe and healthy and allow humans and animals to coexist.
