Members of the forestry corps put down
a bear tagged as M90 in the northern province of Trento on
Tuesday in execution of an order by provincial governor Maurizio
Fugatti.
The culling took place in a mountainous area in the lower Val di
Sole valley.
"The specimen, when identified as bear M90 by observation of the
radio collar and/or ear tags, shall be killed immediately," read
the order signed by Fugatti on Tuesday morning in relation to
the bear that had allegedly become too friendly.
Between its radio collaring on September 14 and January 28, M90
was reportedly sighted on 12 occasions "in residential areas or
in the immediate vicinity of permanent dwellings" and in three
cases it was reported to have intentionally followed people.
"Almost five months have passed since the start of intensive
monitoring of bear M90 with deterrent actions, without any
appreciable results having been achieved in terms of a decrease
in the friendliness of the specimen, which has remained active
and with a dangerous attitude even during the winter months,"
read the order.
The issue of coexistence between humans and bears in the
mountainous region of Trentino came to the fore last April when
a female animal named Jj4 killed 26-year-old trail runner Andrea
Papi.
Since then the provincial authorities have been locked in a
series of legal battles over culling orders amid protests from
animal rights organisations.
Environment Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin Putting has also
intervened in favour of transferring problematic bears to a safe
place rather than being put down and has requested the
involvement of animal rights' associations in drawing up a plan
to manage the local bear population.
(Archive photo of a bear in Trentino)
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