I trust you read the recent article about a bear encounter in Arrivee?
I did, but I was puzzled why he didn't just jump into the car rather than dancing around it.
The do have brown bears in France now after they were reintroduced in recent years. Not a huge number though.
I'm sure you could find them if you went looking. Having said that, I spent a week in Sweden a couple of years ago 'bear tracking'. Despite spending hours at vantage points overlooking valleys, we only saw moose and reindeer. Saw tell-tale signs of the bear's presence, but I think they kept one step ahead of us.