Overview

• Earlier this week, Alba was transferred from Cantabria’s wildlife recovery center to the Monte de Valsemana acclimatization enclosure in León.
• She will spend one to two months in semi-wild conditions designed to simulate natural habitats before reintroduction.
• The Valsemana facility features video monitoring and environmental enrichment aimed at encouraging foraging and territorial behaviors.
• Conservation agencies from Asturias, Cantabria and Castilla y León coordinate under a shared protocol to manage rescues and releases of Cantabrian brown bears.
• Since 2019, six bear cubs—including Saba, who later bred successfully in the wild—have used Valsemana’s semi-free release program.