Bear crossing: the migration has begun: after a 100-year hiatus, it seems that bears may be coming back to Switzerland. This past summer, the first brown bear was spotted in the Swiss canton of Graubunden, the eastern most part of the country just shy of the border with Italy and Austria.

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Bear crossing: the migration has begun: after a 100-year hiatus, it seems that bears may be coming back to Switzerland. This past summer, the first brown bear was spotted in the Swiss canton of Graubunden, the eastern most part of the country just shy of the border with Italy and Austria.

For some, the return of the bear was marked with great excitement, and for others, with apprehension. It also raised a lot of questions. Where had it come from? Was it lost or just passing through? And more pointedly, is it a sign of more to come?

Bear populations were once plentiful throughout Switzerland, as well as most of Europe. The bear was part of the natural landscape for so long that the Swiss capital, Bern (founded in the 12th century), was named after it, and the animal is still prominently featured on the city's flag and coat of a...

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