In Trentino, a popular donkey fell victim to a bear attack. Particularly explosive: the enclosure is only 20 meters away from a playground.
Sopramonte/Trentino - When a group of mothers and their children went to the enclosure of “Olmo” on Thursday morning (April 11), they wanted to feed the popular donkey in Sopramonte. This was kept a short distance from the settlement, and there is also a children's playground nearby. But there was no trace of the small town's “mascot”. The owner eventually found the animal dead - apparently killed by a bear.
Popular donkey “Olmo” in Trentino probably killed by a bear
In the province of Trentino in northern Italy he was a local celebrity - the donkey “Olmo” from Sopramonte, a district of the provincial capital Trento. He was so much a part of the community that a festival was even held in his honor. But now the animal is dead.
After finding only the empty enclosure and the damaged fencing, the group of mothers and their children alerted Davide Vecchietti, the animal's owner. He rushed from his place of work and tracked down the animal's carcass 150 meters away from the enclosure. There was a huge flesh wound on the dead donkey's abdomen.
Vecchietti quickly had his suspicions: “It was immediately clear to me that it must have been a bear. The fence was damaged and a wolf would not have been able to bend the metal supports embedded in the concrete bases,” he explained to the newspaper
l'Adige
. A forester confirmed that the marks on the enclosure and the carcass clearly indicate a bear attack.
Residents worried after donkey tear: “Everyone is afraid, including me”
The residents are not only concerned because of Olmo's tragic death. “The specimen was only a few dozen meters from the houses,” Alex Benetti, the head of the neighboring municipality of Bondone, expressed his concern to
ildolomiti.it
. The former owner Vecchietti shares these concerns: "I'm shocked, we're not on the edge of the forest or in the country, we're in the middle of the village," he told the newspaper. A children's playground is just a few meters from the enclosure.
So far, bears have not caused any damage in the community, but Olmo's death appears to have sparked fear. “Everyone is afraid, including me. We now expect a clear answer from the politicians, and quickly,” demanded Benetti. Maurizio Fugatti, the president of the province of Trentino, assured the broadcaster
RAI
that “the situation is being monitored”. It is now up to the foresters to identify the animal and assess what danger it could pose.
Attacks on people by bears and wolves are extremely rare, but predators still come dangerously close to people. This was made clear at the beginning of the year by the case of a wolf in Val di Fassa that came into close contact with a mother and her child. The death of a jogger from a bear attack in 2023, also in the province of Trentino, sparked great consternation and debate about the coexistence of large carnivores and humans.