The French Ministry of Ecology decided to go ahead with the move in an effort to prevent the decrease of the brown bear population in the Pyrenees. One of the bears was already released into the wild this week. A second female bear from Slovenia will be released in the next few days.

Local sheep farmers strongly oppose the resettlement of the bears in their environment. The farmers have set up road blocks and protest that the bears attack their livestock

The French Minister of Ecology called the protest "unacceptable".