After a bear killed a jogger in northern Italy final month, the authorities moved swiftly to seize the animal and put it down.
However animal activists say the bear on “dying row” on the Casteller animal care centre, close to the town of Trento, Italy, is harmless.
Andrea Papi was killed by a bear on April 5. The 26-year-old’s mutilated physique was discovered on a path close to the city of Caldes on the slopes of Monte Peller within the Brenta Dolomites.
He had suffered deep wounds to the neck, arms and chest, an post-mortem discovered, His shredded garments have been discovered close to his physique, with a bloodied tree department which investigators consider he had used to attempt to defend himself.
The animal concerned within the assault was shortly recognized as a 17-year-old feminine bear often known as JJ4, authorities issued an order for it to be put down.
The animal had proven “indicators of aggression” up to now, officers stated.
“We’d have preferred to kill the bear on the spot,” provincial governor Maurizio Fugatti advised a press convention.
JJ4 had been together with her three cubs when she was captured in a tube-shaped bear entice crammed with fruit, after forest rangers had tracked her location utilizing sniffer canines.
Nevertheless, activists say that DNA discovered on Andrea’s physique confirmed that he had been attacked by a male bear, and the authorities have gotten the mistaken animal.
JJ4’s cubs have been all about two years previous and now not utterly dependent their mom’s milk. They left the world after their mom was captured, officers say.
Animal welfare charity Leal has introduced proof earlier than a regional administrative court docket, claiming that chunk marks on Andrea’s physique don’t mach JJ4’s tooth, and {that a} bear’s chunk is “as distinctive as a fingerprint”. “JJ4 is harmless” the charity stated in an announcement.
Brown bears have been reintroduced to the area twenty years in the past, and though their inhabitants is seen as thriving they’re a protected species in Italy.
JJ4 is descended from a inventory of bears introduced into northern Italy from Slovenia as a part of the the “Life Ursus” European conservation venture.
Native mayors within the Brenta Dolomites area say motion must be taken to convey down the variety of bears which has surged lately to at the very least 100. A number of joggers have been attacked by bears over the previous few years, and farmers have complained of assaults on livestock.
The WWF has stated that seven folks had been attacked by bears in Italy during the last 20 years however this was the primary deadly assault.
This text by Michael Moran was first printed by The Every day Star on 10 Might 2023. Lead Picture: JJ4’s three cubs have now wandered away from the world the place she was captured (Picture: ANSA/AFP through Getty Pictures).
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