The Life and Suspicious Death of Cachou the Bear
Laura Millan Lombrana, Bloomberg News Istological sections of different organs (liver and kidney) of Cachou Photographer: Angel Garcia/Bloomberg , Bloomberg
(Bloomberg) Ivan Afonso checked his computer one last time before picking up the phone. It was April 2020, and like most of Spain, Afonso was stuck at home under a strict Covid lockdown. But his mind was in the mountains.
An environmental scientist, Afonso also served as head of the environmental division in the Aran Valley, a tiny area of the Pyrenees mountain range that forms a dent along Spainâs border with France. For the past three years, his duties had included monitoring the movements of Cachou, a 6-year-old, 130-kilo (287-pound) brown bear. The bear was a local celebrity, one of the few males born in the wild in the Pyrenees and living proof that conservationistsâ efforts to rejuvenate the regionâs st