Spain's brown bears are making a comeback, and in a big way.

The country's native Cantabrian bear was on the verge of extinction back in the 1990s, with just 50 to 80 bears still living in the wild.

Fast forward to 2022 and it's thought there could be more than 300 living in the Cantabrian mountains in Spain's northern Asturias region.

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Members of local NGO Bears with a Future, with help from Spain's Biodiversity Foundation and the EU's Life Project, have focused their efforts on maintaining the natural habitat of the brown bear.

Biodiversity Foundation coordinator Victor Gutierrez tells CGTN Europe that this was vital for the brown bears' long-term survival.

"All projects related to the wild bear have been successful because we get local people involved and we also take into account other factors that affect brown bears like climate change," he says. 

"We try to make transforming projects and create new economic activities in an area where natural resources are key."

Climate change has severely affected the availability of many of the bear's natural food sources, especially wild berries.

To combat this, up to 175,000 wild berry plants, chestnut and apple trees are being planted across 155 hectares in Asturias and in the neighbouring regions of Cantabria and Castilla y Leon.

That's giving the bears here every chance not only to survive, but to thrive.

Bear tourism

The increase in the animals' numbers has also led to an increase in regional bear tourism.

Every year thousands of people flock to the Cantabrian mountains hoping to catch a glimpse of this once elusive animal.

One tourist says she traveled to Asturias hoping to see the bears. While she had been left disappointed, she said there was still much to enjoy.

"My husband and I came here to try to spot some bears, also chamois (a species of goat-antelope), mountain goats and, of course, to admire the valleys," she tells CGTN Europe.

"It was really sad we couldn't spot bears, but we saw lots of the other animals," she adds. "The Asturias region and this beech forest are just wonderful."

Another tourist says he was impressed at how the local authorities were dealing with the high numbers of people coming to see the bears.

"I think the relationship is balanced, in the beginning when they said they were going to introduce bears here people were a bit scared, but I think now people realized that it's very sustainable," he says.

The economic benefit of the bears is undeniable. A study by Spain's Brown Bear Foundation found the presence of the Cantabrian bear added $21 million to the local economy, mainly through jobs linked to tourism.

The challenge will be to balance this economic consideration with the welfare of these famous and ever more populous ursine residents.