Extreme measure.
A bear deemed “dangerous” for hikers was shot dead on Tuesday in the Italian Alps (north), to the great dismay of plantigrade defense organizations, we learned on Wednesday from the authorities of the province of Trentino.
The animal, two and a half years old and identified under the name “M90”, was killed by agents of the forestry services of Trentino, according to a press release from this autonomous province located in the south of the Alpine chain.
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“M90” was considered “dangerous” because of his “excessive confidence and his frequentation of urban and peri-urban areas”, adds the same source.
He had followed hikers on January 28 over a distance of 500 meters and the Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) immediately gave the order to “take” him.
“Too large a number to ensure cohabitation”
The president of the province, Maurizio Fugatti, then signed the felling authorization.
The elected official went to war against the bear after the death on April 7, 2023 of a jogger, killed by the animal on a hiking trail in the same area, a first in the country.
The bear reintroduction plan (“Life Ursus”) in the province, implemented between 1996 and 2004, only planned for 50 plantigrades, but there are now more of them.
Throughout Italy, there are between 120 and 200, mainly in Trentino and Abruzzo (center), “too large a number to ensure cohabitation” with humans, according to Maurizio Fugatti.
“It is therefore appropriate to bring this figure as quickly as possible back to what was initially planned,” he pleaded when the jogger died.
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The International Organization for Animal Protection (OIPA) deplored after the death of “M90” “a blind policy that is hostile to animals (…) which does not protect biodiversity”.