Environmental officer arrested for involvement in death of bear

AN environmental officer has been arrested for his alleged involvement in the death of a bear.

The bear, named Cachou, was found dead on April 9 this year, in Les, part of the Aran Valley nature reserve.

It had been blamed for the death of cattle in previous months and showed unusually violent behaviour.

The environmental officer who has been arrested was part of a team tracking the bear and there had been requests for it to be removed from the area.

A judge imposed secrecy on the case for crimes against nature back in May, because just days after the bear’s body was found by environmental officers from Arau regional council, several animal organizations, including Ipcena-EdC, Seo Birdlife Catalunya, FAPAS and the Federation Ecologists of Catalonia raised doubts over the official version given in the preliminary autopsy report. The official version was that he had fought with another bear and fallen, but the animal showed no injuries from a fight and its expression pointed to it having been poisoned.

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) insisted that the death be investigated to rule out premeditation.

The detainee had only recently become part of the team in which he worked, and his motivation for killing the bear is, as yet, a mystery. Reports state that although he is a resident in the area, he doesn’t seem to have any relatives whose cattle may have been attacked by the animal.


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Jennifer Leighfield

Jennifer Leighfield, born in Salisbury, UK; resident in Malaga, Spain since 1989. Degree in Translation and Interpreting in Spanish, French and English from Malaga University (2005), specialising in Crime, Forensic Medicine and Genetics. Published translations include three books by Richard Handscombe. Worked with Euro Weekly News since November 2006. Well-travelled throughout Spain and the rest of the world, fan of Harry Potter and most things ‘geek’.

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