A Remnant Brown Bear Population in Southern Norway and Problems of Its Conservation

About the year 1850 the brown bear Ursus arctos arctos L. was common in forested areas over most of Norway, with a population estimated at several thousand individuals (Helland 1913). The development of better firearms, in certain places combined with changes in the environment, radically changed this situation within a hundred years. By 1969, it was estimated that only 25-50 brown bears were left (Myrberget 1969). The majority of these individuals are connected with larger populations in neighbouring countries (Fig. 1).