The mountain village of Caldes, in the Italian Alps, is one of the most beautiful places in the country. But today, villagers are scared to even go into those forests.
The reason is simple: a neighbor, while on a run last year, was mauled to death by a female bear.
The attack has brought to light the controversy over a ‘rewilding’ project reintroducing bears into this region.
This comes at a time when hundreds of brown bears across Europe are being culled – from Sweden to Romania.
Daily Mail reported:
“The attack on Andrea Papi, 26, as he jogged in the Dolomites, shocked Italy, sparking a national debate over the wisdom of a policy to reintroduce brown bears here. The clash pitted politicians against animal rights activists, conservationists against local people. Meanwhile, the bear, though spared from being put down by the country’s top court, is now trapped in captivity, with wildlife experts complaining about the cruelty of her ‘jail’ sentence.”
While the attack happened last year, the controversy is back with force after another female bear, who attacked a French tourist, was killed on orders of the region’s governor.
“The bear now in captivity, which was responsible for Italy’s first fatal mauling for 150 years, has been named JJ4 – being the fourth daughter of Joze and Jurka, two bears caught in Slovenia and released with eight others into a national park near Trento more than two decades ago.”
This EU-backed scheme called Life Ursus to restore the predators was considered a success, and now, at least 120 bears now living in the region.
After JJ4 killed Andrea Papi, it became known that the bear also mauled a man four years earlier.
At least six other assaults over the past decade have resulted in serious injuries.
Papi’s father, Carlo, says people are furious over the rewilding scheme and failure to inform residents about attacks.
“‘I’m filled with anger’, said the retired head waiter. ‘The authorities knew there was a dangerous bear out there but didn’t warn anyone. ‘We’ve been waiting for justice but it seems it will never come. We want accountability – someone to go to jail. The decision to reintroduce bears has been a disaster’.”
It has come to a point where 70 per cent of local population are against their booming bear population.
“Franca Ghirardini, 61, mother of the fatally mauled jogger, complained that locals had never been consulted on rewilding. Yet such has been the furor following her son’s death that she and her husband have suffered a repulsive barrage of hate mail and abuse on social media, resulting in 21 complaints to the police.
Some staff in the regional government have also quit their jobs due to the hostility aroused among animal lovers by the original decision to shoot JJ4. The bear’s life was spared – along with another beast that attacked a hiker – after activists appealed to Italy’s highest court and judges ruled that putting it down would be a ‘disproportionate’ punishment.”
Read more:
Sweden Kicks off Bear Hunting Season With Almost 500 Licenses To Cull the Carnivore Beasts
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