Bear's French Adventure Brought to Grizzly End

A Slovenian bear whose introduction into the French Pyrenees as part of a controversial conservation scheme infuriated local farmers has died in a car accident.

The bear, named Franska, was killed near the shrine of Lourdes in a dawn collision with a car on a mountain motorway.

The animal was one of five bears, four female and one male, let loose in the mountains in south-west France last year to boost the native bear population, which had dwindled to around 18 from several hundred over the past century.

Local sheep farmers have waged a fierce campaign against the scheme and demanded the bears be removed. They claimed Franska alone had killed more than 150 sheep.

A month after the 17-stone bear was introduced, honey laced with glass shards was found in the mountains.

Last month more than 100 farmers dumped the carcasses of seven sheep they claimed had been killed by the animal outside the local government offices.

There was further controversy when it emerged that Franska, who was supposed to be six years old, was closer to 17 and possibly too old to reproduce.

According to witnesses, the bear was hit by a vehicle and thrown into the path of a second. She was the second of the five Slovenian bears to die of unnatural causes. The first fell from a cliff a year ago.

"If people had only listened to us, Franska would be living a happy and peaceful life in Slovenia," said Bernard Moules, a local farmers' union official and an opponent of the bear scheme.

Bear supporters accused farmers of exaggerating the threat to their livestock and suggested they should invest in sheepdogs and shepherds to protect their flocks.