Updates today on the arrival in Portugal of the first brown bear in almost two centuries (click here) suggest he is finding enough to eat.
Using photographs of a much more substantial looking creature than before, reports claim he has already devoured almost 50 kilos of honey “present in the hives of beekeeper Luís Correia”, producing in Bragança.
Correia has been interviewed, explaining how he suspected a ‘large animal’ was to blame for hive plundering – particularly as it seemed to have left a massive paw mark on one of the wooden sidings (see image).
Experts from the institute of nature conservation and forestries were called in and have confirmed from pawprints and hairs recovered at the scene that this was the work of Portugal’s visiting ‘grizzly’.
The young male clearly loves his honey: he is believed to have ransacked hives near the border, in Spain, before he arrived here.
Now it’s just a question of what happens next – and if you are a beekeeper, it’s time to protect your hives.
