"Sherri Tippie wasn't a biologist, and she wasn't an outdoor person either. Her part in that story started small. One day in 1985, she was watching the local evening news when a story came on about a beaver that was on a golf course in Aurora Colorado. The beaver had been chewing down trees, and wildlife officials were going to kill it. She couldn't accept that. She called around town until she found a new home for the beaver, despite never having handled a wild animal before."

The team from nature association Depana, in collaboration with the local Val d'Aran government, have documented two bears with three cubs each in the rural mountainous region.

The sightings are unprecedented for the area, never having been documented before in the Pyrenees.

During the months of May and June, images were recorded showing the daily life of two family groups during one of the most sensitive stages of their life cycle.

The recordings that the organization has now made public show the animals' feeding habits, interactions between the cubs and the mother, behavior towards other species, and different moments of daily activity.

These observations are the result of monitoring and surveillance tasks coordinated by Marc Alonso, a Depana expert in the conservation of the brown bear in the Pyrenees.

Two months of monitoring

The teams managed to monitor one of the mother bears for 28 consecutive days.

At the beginning of June, this family lost one of the three cubs, the smallest of the litter, for reasons that have not been determined. Experts think it could either be due to a process of natural selection (illness or accident) or a possible episode of infanticide by a male bear.

The second bear with three cubs was located on five occasions and, until the end of the monitoring period, the family group remained complete.

Overall, during the spring monitoring campaign, a total of twelve different specimens of brown bear were monitored in the Val d'Aran.

This work is part of a broader conservation, scientific monitoring, and awareness-raising program that aims to promote the coexistence between the brown bear and human activities in the area.

100+ bears in the Pyrenees

According to the latest data from the Brown Bear Transfrontier Monitoring Group (GSTOP), made public by the Catalan government last March, a total of 54 brown bears were identified in the Catalan Pyrenees in 2025, and 108 in the Pyrenees as a whole, the highest figure recorded to date.

These data confirm the positive trend of population recovery.

The brown bear is listed as an endangered species in the Pyrenees and is subject to priority protection according to European regulations.

Depana indicates that despite the recovery of the population, the species remains vulnerable and requires rigorous scientific monitoring, as well as the consolidation of measures that favor coexistence with livestock farming and other human activities.

The association also considers that this recovery also represents "an opportunity to promote a responsible ecotourism model that contributes to the sustainable development of the Pyrenean regions," always with the utmost respect for the animals, their habitat, and the local population.

Article with video in Spanish

>Steve the beaver, infamous for escaping his enclosure in his quest to find love, has welcomed his first kit with mate Doris.

>After repeatedly breaking out from Wallington, in Northumberland, the male beaver was named after The Great Escape star Steve McQueen and last year he finally achieved his ambition after being rehomed to an enclosure on a farm in Wales.

>The team at Cefn Garthenor have confirmed Steve and Doris have welcomed their first kit, which they believe was born around late May, with the team saying they were "so excited" by the news.

>Alistair Hughes, from Cefn Garthenor farm, said: "Doris seems to be keeping Steve way too busy for him to have time or energy for an escape."

>Steve the beaver was released into a 24-hectare (59-acre) enclosure at Wallington in July 2023 as part of a family of four Eurasian beavers.

>Storms during their first year saw the enclosure fencing damaged, which is how Steve made his bids for freedom.

>Rangers said it became clear his repeated escape attempts might have been driven by his instinct to find a mate and after being recaptured for a third time in December 2024, they decided it was time to find him a suitable new home.

>After being relocated to Wales, he was matched with Doris.

>Hughes said: "It was a blind date, so we're glad it all worked out."

>While the sex of the kit is not yet known, Hughes said the team was looking at Welsh gender-neutral names to poll people on.

>The National Trust Wallington estate has also confirmed the arrival of at least two new beavers in 2026, marking the third consecutive year of successful breeding.

>The new kits are Steve's siblings.

>Ranger Emily Johnson said: "A third successful breeding season at Wallington is a great sign that the beavers are healthy and happy."

>Johnson added each kit would stay with its mother for about two years before moving on to try and find their own territory.

Sweden is currently preparing to donate several JAS fighter jets to Ukraine.

This is according to Aftonbladet.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (M) has called a press conference for tomorrow.

According to information provided to Aftonbladet, the government will announce a donation of a number of JAS 39 C/D fighter jets to Ukraine.

At the same time, negotiations will begin regarding a future sale of additional JAS 39E aircraft to the same country.

According to Aftonbladet, Ukraine will pay for the aircraft with an EU loan.

Tomorrow, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson will visit the Uppland Air Wing in Uppsala. In connection with that visit, a press conference will be held to announce news related to international cooperation in the aviation sector.

>An unexpected population of wild beavers has been found.

>Nature recovery programme Cumbria Connect said it could confirm rumours of the animals being spotted in and around the River Lowther in Eden - the first wild population of the semi-aquatic rodent in the county.

>Natural England said they were a protected wild population under the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations, meaning it was illegal to capture, harm, or disturb them.

>Cumbria Connect said it was not involved in the release of the animals and suspected their release was illegal - which it did not "support".

>Programme manager Martin Varley said: "We now need to focus on how we manage this situation responsibly and collaboratively.

>"We do not support illegal wildlife releases and believes species recovery must take place through responsible, licensed and transparent processes."

>The programme said it had already been aware of the population, but did not publicise its presence to reduce the risk of the beavers being disturbed by the public.

>However, tracks left behind by the animals and an increased number of sightings had made it "appropriate" to confirm their existence.

>Beavers are native to Britain but were wiped out in the 16th Century, mainly due to hunting, according to the Cumbria Wildlife Trust.

>They first returned to the UK in the early 2000s, but were only allowed to be kept in enclosed spaces in England until last year - when beavers were first released into the wild again.