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The Implausible Rewilding of the Pyrenees
The return of large predators might help to reinvigorate nature. But are wild animals like wolves and bears compatible with livestock farming? Will their arrival destroy mountain communities? Unable to decide on the issues, Steve Cracknell climbs up to the isolated summer pastures of the Pyrenees to talk with those most concerned: the shepherds. He also meets hunters and ecologists – and goes looking for bears. In a book of relevance to the rewilding debate in Britain, the author shows how attitudes to the wild are bound up with cultural perceptions. Nobody has a monopoly of the truth.
286 pages, Paperback
Published July 21, 2021
15 people want to read
About the author
Steve Cracknell
12 books23 followersSteve Cracknell's latest book looks at rewilding with top predators. Wolves and bears are returning, but many shepherds are unhappy, asking who owns the mountains? It is a question that is being asked all over the world. Who does own the countryside? How is that ownership shared? What are the rights and responsibilities?
The Implausible Rewilding of the Pyrenees looks for answers.
Steve grew up in Yorkshire, England discovering the joys of blisters on the North York Moors. He studied archaeology at Cambridge University and became a field archaeologist, digging in Britain and Europe before trading in his trowel for a computer. Publishing and web design were his next challenges.
Moving to France in 1997, he started walking in the Pyrenees and writing about them.
The Implausible Rewilding of the Pyrenees looks for answers.
Steve grew up in Yorkshire, England discovering the joys of blisters on the North York Moors. He studied archaeology at Cambridge University and became a field archaeologist, digging in Britain and Europe before trading in his trowel for a computer. Publishing and web design were his next challenges.
Moving to France in 1997, he started walking in the Pyrenees and writing about them.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 2, 2021
'The implausible rewilding of the Pyrenees' is a fascinating read. The hot topic of rewilding, set in the wonderful border mountains of the Pyrenees, makes a setting for not one terrific story, but lots. I was expecting this book to cover the very contentious and contested re-introduction of bears into the Pyrenees,which indeed it does, but I was pleased and interested to find a range of Pyrenean animals featured, both wild and not so wild. Bears, sheep, vultures, ibex, marmot, sheep dogs (guard dogs to the sheep) are all discussed and illustrated with contemporary photos and historic graphics. Of course, the other element are the people of these places - and there are plenty of them that have been interviewed and photographed for this book bringing the arguments for and against rewilding to life.
The striking and eye-catching cover illustration is completely appropriate for this book. Highly recommended.
The striking and eye-catching cover illustration is completely appropriate for this book. Highly recommended.
January 15, 2022
[This review was first published in Catalonia Today magazine, Jan. 2022.]
Here’s a book about nature that is neither an impassioned rant nor a lecture. Instead, over a period of years, Steve Cracknell spoke directly to the horses’ mouths and with great empathy and balance, he lets us learn about the various sides of the issues. His central question in a new release titled The Implausible Rewilding of the Pyrenees is whether native animals should be reintroduced to these mountains, along with selected non-native animals.
According to Cracknell, rewilding comes from the idea that traditional conservation has failed to slow or even stop a decline in biodiversity in Catalonia, parts of Aragon and the border country across Spain and France. This is a trend that could be reversed by reintroducing key species ‘and creating suitable habitats for them. “What is most important,” he says, “is not the presence of the animal but the effect it has on its environment” and here the most controversial predators are the bear and the wolf.
With the fitness of a young goat, the author climbs up to isolated summer pastures, freezing his extremities in the quest to see a bear for the first time. He also spends hours and days with farmers doing the seasonal ‘transhumance’ where cattle or sheep are herded overland to new feeding grounds.
He interviews shepherds, ecologists and wild boar hunters, among others. In the process, he’s not afraid to get dirt under his fingernails and also (I suspect) end up reeking of sheep dung. The sadness and gore of sheep who’ve been attacked by bears is also something he doesn’t avoid.
He asks all the best questions to gently test the claims and experiences related by those who have a lot to lose and those who take an interest for non-economic reasons. I was happy to see he never made the appalling choice of calling anyone “stakeholders in the debate”.
The details in the book are often exact and surprising. For example, bears are known by the name across the region. One of them named “Goiat” (meaning boy or lad) is a 10-year-old, 205 kg male (born in Slovenia) and the only bear to have been released in the southern part of Catalonia in Pallars Sobirà in 2016. A remarkable camera trap photo shows another (possibly scratching his belly) against a tree in Vall d’Aran. (The author mentions that wolves from Italian stock arrived in Catalonia in 2006 after a century’s absence.)
One shepherd who Cracknell spends time with is Mustapha, originally from a sheep farm in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. With his legal status now fully regularised (and with wife and young child who joined him later) he had previously crossed over the sea to the Canary Islands from Western Sahara. Thanks to funding grants from the EU’s Project Catalunya PirosLIFE programme, conditions for those like Mustapha have greatly improved in the past four years.
He has a young assistant named Josep, when in the past he’d had to exist for over three months with only his dog for company. As well, he’s been lucky enough to enjoy the relative comfort of portable cabins helicoptered into his area at the start of summer.
Steve Cracknell is the author of two other titles on nature but apart from his extensive wildlife knowledge and deep affection for the Pyrenees, what comes across in this book is a genuine respect for individuals who work and live up there. As a long time resident, his final words sum it all up better than I could: “Exit pursued by a bear.”
https://bretthetherington.blogspot.co...
Here’s a book about nature that is neither an impassioned rant nor a lecture. Instead, over a period of years, Steve Cracknell spoke directly to the horses’ mouths and with great empathy and balance, he lets us learn about the various sides of the issues. His central question in a new release titled The Implausible Rewilding of the Pyrenees is whether native animals should be reintroduced to these mountains, along with selected non-native animals.
According to Cracknell, rewilding comes from the idea that traditional conservation has failed to slow or even stop a decline in biodiversity in Catalonia, parts of Aragon and the border country across Spain and France. This is a trend that could be reversed by reintroducing key species ‘and creating suitable habitats for them. “What is most important,” he says, “is not the presence of the animal but the effect it has on its environment” and here the most controversial predators are the bear and the wolf.
With the fitness of a young goat, the author climbs up to isolated summer pastures, freezing his extremities in the quest to see a bear for the first time. He also spends hours and days with farmers doing the seasonal ‘transhumance’ where cattle or sheep are herded overland to new feeding grounds.
He interviews shepherds, ecologists and wild boar hunters, among others. In the process, he’s not afraid to get dirt under his fingernails and also (I suspect) end up reeking of sheep dung. The sadness and gore of sheep who’ve been attacked by bears is also something he doesn’t avoid.
He asks all the best questions to gently test the claims and experiences related by those who have a lot to lose and those who take an interest for non-economic reasons. I was happy to see he never made the appalling choice of calling anyone “stakeholders in the debate”.
The details in the book are often exact and surprising. For example, bears are known by the name across the region. One of them named “Goiat” (meaning boy or lad) is a 10-year-old, 205 kg male (born in Slovenia) and the only bear to have been released in the southern part of Catalonia in Pallars Sobirà in 2016. A remarkable camera trap photo shows another (possibly scratching his belly) against a tree in Vall d’Aran. (The author mentions that wolves from Italian stock arrived in Catalonia in 2006 after a century’s absence.)
One shepherd who Cracknell spends time with is Mustapha, originally from a sheep farm in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. With his legal status now fully regularised (and with wife and young child who joined him later) he had previously crossed over the sea to the Canary Islands from Western Sahara. Thanks to funding grants from the EU’s Project Catalunya PirosLIFE programme, conditions for those like Mustapha have greatly improved in the past four years.
He has a young assistant named Josep, when in the past he’d had to exist for over three months with only his dog for company. As well, he’s been lucky enough to enjoy the relative comfort of portable cabins helicoptered into his area at the start of summer.
Steve Cracknell is the author of two other titles on nature but apart from his extensive wildlife knowledge and deep affection for the Pyrenees, what comes across in this book is a genuine respect for individuals who work and live up there. As a long time resident, his final words sum it all up better than I could: “Exit pursued by a bear.”
https://bretthetherington.blogspot.co...
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews