Story By: Jonathan Macias, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News

Video Credit: CEN/ONCFS

This is the moment several brown bears are seen frolicking in the Pyrenees Mountains after being reintroduced to the area amid claims that five new families have formed this year.

The incident was filmed by hidden cameras in the Pyrenees that are used to study the bears and their population in the area.

According to local media, the bears were recorded in areas that belong to the northern Spanish regions of Catalonia and Aragon and the south-western French department of Hautes-Pyrenees.

The footage was published by the French Hunting and Wildlife Agency (ONCFS) and most of the bear sightings were recorded in the municipality of la Val d’Aran in the province of Lleida located in the western part of Catalonia which borders with France and Andorra to the north.

The images confirm that the brown bears (Ursus arctos) are adapting well after being reintroduced in the Pyrenees in 1996.

The footage , viewed over 42,000 times on YouTube, shows bears strolling around the area, sniffing vegetation and scratching their backs against trees.

According to the ONCFS, experts believe that one of the bears in the video might be ‘Canelito’ (‘Brownish’ in Spanish), an individual that the authorities lost track of some time ago.

Reports said that Canelito was spotted in the commune of Saint-Lary-Soulan in the south-western French department of Hautes-Pyrenees.

According to a report by the ONCF and the authorities of Catalonia, Navarre and Aragon, the cameras identified 40 bears in the region in the last year.

Experts also believe that there could be up to five new families in the area, which is an increase on the two new sleuths reported last year.

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