Momma Bear On Death Row in Italy
A bear in the north Italian province of Trentino is in lockdown after mauling a jogger last month on Mount Peller. The jogger didn’t survive the attack; the bear, a 17-year-old female, was captured and about to be killed herself, but has won a reprieve while the courts decide her fate.
“We would have liked to kill the bear on the spot,” provincial governor Maurizio Fugatti said at a press conference, adding it would indeed be put down if a court agrees at a hearing this month. The bear is a repeat offender, having already attacked and injured a father and son while they were hiking on Mt. Peller in 2020.
The bear, known only by her designation JJ4, is part of a European plan called "Life Ursus," a 25-year-old program reintroducing brown bears in the Alps. The program was very popular in Trentino when it launched, but the recent deadly encounter could jeopardize its future.
“It could be a huge step backward, I fear,” Claudio Groff, director of the Large Carnivores Division in Trentino’s Wildlife Department, told Wired. “Now, obviously, the level of public acceptance will fall further, the risks of poaching will rise, and whatever the outcome, it will be bears as a whole that will pay the price.” There are now about 100 bears in Trentino.
JJ4 was with her three cubs when she was captured in a bear trap baited with fruit, after forest rangers had tracked her using dogs in the Meledrio valley. Her cubs, deemed old enough to survive on their own, were released. The captured bear was sedated and taken to the Casteller animal care center near the city of Trento, where she awaits a court ruling on her fate.
There are alternatives to the death penalty. The bear could be relocated, for example, to a safe distance from human populations. And humans who do enter bear territory can be educated to avoid nasty encounters.
Folks! Listen up and stop being so naively superior. Bear spray works! Peaceful coexistence with apex predators is not only possible, it’s necessary.
Photo credit: Charles J. Sharp / Wikimedia Commons
