Stephen Phelan

1. Article · Sep 8, 2026 · Stephen Phelan

   ‘So big and so close’: spotting endangered bears on a trip to northern Spain (opens the original)

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   Conservationists have helped Cantabrian brown bears claw their way back from the edge of extinction in the beautiful mountains of Asturias – and carefully controlled nature tourism allows visitors to see them Once upon a time, in the woods outside Pola de Somiedo, lived a family of Cantabrian brown bears. The villagers reported sightings of a mother bear who had lost a leg to a hunter’s trap, her two cubs and two adult males, either of which might have been the father. In those days, at the

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