The five year-old female, named Hvala and weighing 100 kilos (220 pounds), was returned to the wild amid conditions of strict secrecy to avoid sparking protests by local anti-bear activists.

It was set loose near Arbas, one of four Pyrenees towns that have agreed to take part in the programme.

Overall five bears are to be let into the wild, to boost a population put at between 14 and 18. The area's last remaining female was shot by a hunter.

Opponents, who accuse bears of attacking livestock, have mounted a fierce campaign against their release and anti-bear activists recently planted traps of honey laced with glass shards for the animals.

Some 5,000 people, donkeys, cows and sheep in tow, marched in the Pyreneean town of Bagneres-de-Bigorre at the weekend against the programme.

But France's top administrative court ruled last week that the releases could go ahead, rejecting an argument that the reintroduction would disrupt the economic balance in the area.

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