Authorities in northern Italy have culled a brown bear deemed dangerous to humans, prompting protests from animal rights activists and a harsh investigation from Italy’s environment minister.
MILAN – Forestry unit personnel in northern Italy killed a brown bear on Tuesday deemed dangerous to humans by local authorities, sparking protests from animal rights activists and scrutiny from Italy’s environment minister.
According to an official statement, the brown bear M90 was killed by members of a forestry unit in the Sole Valley in the Eastern Alps on the orders of Maurizio Fugatti, president of the state of Trento. The state said the bear displayed “overconfidence and frequent urban visits” and had followed people on numerous occasions, most recently following a pair of hikers for more than 500 meters on a forest road. That’s what it means.
The state said the Ispra Environmental Research Institute had confirmed the need to “remove the Bear M90 as soon as possible.” The bears were identified by radio collars and ear markings.
Environmental groups complained that the speed of the order and enforcement left them no time to seek an injunction. They announced a protest in the regional capital, Trento, on Saturday.
The timing of the order and its execution “makes you wonder if the rifle was already smoking while the order was being signed,” said Massimo Vitturi of the animal rights group LAV.
Italy’s Environment Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin questioned whether culling was the best option, saying in a statement: “It cannot be the only option.” He called for efforts to “guarantee peaceful communal living within the region.”
Authorities in the state are at loggerheads with animal rights activists over what to do with the growing population of alpine brown bears, which were once nearly extinct but have been revived thanks to a project funded by the European Union. ing.
Last spring, they captured a 17-year-old female (identified as JJ4) in Brenta National Park that had killed a runner about two weeks earlier and injured a parent and child walking in the area in 2020. . Animal rights activist authorities are fighting to have her extradited to Romania, while Italy’s administrative court is seeking clarification on the state’s culling order from the European Court of Justice.
Meanwhile, the carcasses of two other bears, M62 and MJ5, have been found, one near Lake Molveno in April and the other in Bresimo, Val di Non, in October. ing.
Two of JJ4’s siblings also died after wandering into neighboring Switzerland in 2008 and nearby Germany in 2005.
Jj4 was born to two bears brought to Italy from Slovenia 20 years ago as part of an EU-funded program to repopulate the brown bear population, which had been reduced to the brink of extinction. Her parents, Jose and Julka, were introduced in her year 2000 and her year 2001 respectively, from which she and her brother’s name initials “Jj” are derived.