Is Italy's killer bear innocent?

Grizzly problem - 12th June 2023

A jogger was fatally mauled by a bear in Italy. Numerous animal rights organisations have rallied behind the accused creature, proclaiming its innocence and laying the blame on the government.

The victim, identified as Andrea Papi, met his untimely demise while jogging through the woodlands of Trentino-Alto Adige. An autopsy of the body revealed that the assailant was a bear, JJ4, mother to three two-year-old cubs.

Capturing the bear in a cylindrical trap, local authorities moved to euthanize JJ4. However, mounting a campaign, activists demanded her release on the grounds that forensic reports suggested the killer was, in fact, a male bear.

Animal welfare association Leal brought forward compelling evidence from two wildlife experts. In a statement, Leal's legal representative Aurora Loprete declared, "we have asked the court to order a specialised veterinary doctor to examine the specimen, to measure her teeth."

In 2020, JJ4 caught the public's attention after she’d inflicted injuries upon a father and his daughter in Trento. Efforts by the provincial president, Maurizio Fugatti, to authorise JJ4's euthanasia faced opposition from the same animal rights groups.

Expressing deep remorse for his inability to avert Papi's fate, Fugatti pledged that, "JJ4 will meet her end once the court has rendered its decision." Leal then issued an urgent call for Fugatti's "immediate resignation".

Papi's death marks the first fatality caused by a bear in modern times as the creatures were previously confined to captivity. However, this is owing to an EU-funded Life Ursus initiative, launched in the 1990s, seeing the repopulation of brown bears in northern Italy, via Slovenia.

The initiative’s been a success, with JJ4's progenitors Joze and Jurka – among the original 9 Slovenian bears reintroduced to the region – rebounding the population to 100 bears within two decades.

Despite concurring with the relocation of 60 bears, activists insist the government undertake comprehensive measures preventing human intrusion into areas where bears rear their cubs.

While opposing the bear's execution, Papi's grieving family still seek justice with a statement from his bereaved mother arguing "It’s too easy to say [Papi] shouldn’t have been running there. The population didn’t know there were four problematic bears."