Spain’s brown bears are climbing back from the edge of extinction. In March 2025, Spain’s ecological transition minister said bear numbers had risen from under 70 to more than 400 in less than three decades. A regional census reported in May 2026 C.E. found nearly twice as many females with cubs in Castilla y León as in 2013.
At a glance
- Population: Spain’s ecological transition minister said in March 2025 that bear numbers rose from under 70 to more than 400 in less than three decades.
- Breeding females: Castilla y León counted 21 females with 37 cubs in the 2025–26 breeding year, up from 11 females with 20 cubs in 2013.
- Cantabrian estimate: The Cantabrian Mountains population is estimated at about 370 bears, roughly 250 in the west and 120 in the east.
What the numbers show
Sara Aagesen, Spain’s ecological transition minister, made the statement at the final event of an EU-backed project called LIFE Osos con Futuro. She said work still lies ahead but called the recovery a success story, according to the ministry’s release. The release says the Cantabrian population is estimated at about 370 bears, based on the latest census by regional governments.
The ministry did not say which populations the 400 figure covers. Spain has two: the Cantabrian Mountains in the northwest and a smaller group in the Pyrenees. The Fundación Oso Pardo, a Spanish bear conservation group, lists a minimum of 108 bears in the Pyrenees in 2025.
More mothers and cubs in the latest census
The regional government of Castilla y León ran the latest count for the 2025–26 breeding year, Diario de León reports. Teams counted 21 females with 37 cubs in the region. In 2013, they counted 11 females with 20 cubs.
That is a rise of about 91 percent in females with cubs and 85 percent in cubs. The western group had 10 females with 19 cubs, and the eastern group had 11 females with 18 cubs.
Surveyors walked about 2,800 miles of transects and collected 1,103 signs, including scat and hair. Genetic tests identified 176 individual bears in the region. Researchers used a statistical method called spatial capture-recapture to estimate the whole Cantabrian population.
How Spain’s brown bears are being helped
The LIFE Osos con Futuro project is coordinated by the Fundación Oso Pardo with the Fundación Biodiversidad, the ministry says. It planted about 150,000 fruit-bearing trees and shrubs and about 25,000 grafted chestnut trees from local varieties. The project also held more than 80 meetings with hikers, mushroom pickers, photographers, and hunters to head off conflicts.
Teams are also working to cut illegal snares. In nine search operations, they removed eight snares, according to a Fundación Oso Pardo summary. The same summary describes a 2024 case in which a radio-collared bear died in a snare and an arrest followed.
What the recovery has not solved
The eastern group’s genetics are very poor, the census found. Bears dispersing from the western group are helping, but the census says growth alone will not be enough. The female and cub counts are also minimums, because some mothers were probably missed.
People and bears still clash. Problem bears are increasing, and Castilla y León received 485 damage claims in 2025, mainly for beehives, orchards, and livestock. Three bears died that year, including a female hit by a vehicle and two radio-collared males.
Climate change adds pressure. Aagesen said wild fruit harvests, such as blueberries, have been irregular, and beech and oak forests are likely to shrink sharply. Bears may also sleep less in winter, raising the chance of encounters with people.
Read more
For more on this story, see: Spain’s Ministry for the Ecological Transition
For more from Good News for Humankind, see:
- Iberian lynx recovery in Spain and Portugal
- Black bear population rebounds across the American South
- The Good News for Humankind archive on species recovery
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