The day before yesterday, Maurizio Fugatti signed the order from the president of the autonomous province of Trento. The bear that attacked and killed the 26-year-old runner Andrea Papi, found dead three days ago in a wooded area in the Val di Sole (Trentino), will have to be killed. Fugatti spoke of “a situation of immediate and very serious danger to safety and security”, which would be resolved with the killing not only of the specimen that attacked the runner – it seems Mj5 – but with the downsizing of the European project Life Ursus, created to increase the number of specimens in the Alps through the release of some specimens from Slovenia. There are currently about 100 bears in the province of Trento. After scaling they would shrink to 50. The debate is on. The mayors of Val di Sole welcomed the provision with jubilation: “The number of bears must be reduced”. While environmental associations, such as the National Organization for the Protection of Animals (Oipa), Legambiente and the Anti-Vivisection League (Leal), speak of a “spirit of revenge”.
How to limit interactions. The example of the park of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise
Experts do note how it is not the number of bears that generates problems, but rather the opportunities to meet humans, which should therefore be limited. This is exactly what has been done in Abruzzo and Molise, where coexistence with bears goes smoother than in Trentino and neighboring regions, where there have been cases of bears entering the gardens of houses. To avoid all this, in the national park of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise, the movement of hikers is regulated. For example, in the areas of integral reserve and general reserve, it is not allowed to go off the trails. «On some you can go freely, even with the dog, always on a leash, or the horse and the bike; in others not», explains Luciano Sommarone, director of the park.
Park rules
Therefore, in “zone A” of the reserve you can only move on foot, on the marked paths, and without dogs in tow. No horses, mules, donkeys and mechanical means, including mountain bikes, which could excite the bears and trigger responses to what the animals would interpret as threats. «About sixty specimens of Marsican brown bear live here and, as with all wild animals, to limit interactions with humans it is necessary to remove all forms of calling – continues Sammarone at the Corriere della Sera -. Regulating trail access also has the advantage that the bears learn where the disturbance is coming from and therefore stay away from it. They are animals that tend to run away when they see people.”
The population density
It must be said that the Marsican bear is genetically less aggressive than those brought from Slovenia to the Alps. There is also a difference in population density between the valleys of Trentino and those of central Italy. In addition to a different habit of those who live there in the presence of plantigrades. Inside our Park there are 7 inhabited centers but man in Abruzzo has always learned to live with the presence of these mammals and every year the Abruzzo shepherds take into account that some sheep will be eaten by bears, continues Sammarone, also illustrating the widespread practice around the park of the three regions, to use bear-proof chicken coops. In Trentino, on the other hand, there is more focus on rubbish bins, considered capable of attracting animals, and therefore armored and clearly absent from the parks. In any case, Sammarone specifies: “In Trentino the unit of inhabitants per square km is two, three times ours and there are many more people who frequent the mountains, so the possibility of encountering bears also increases”.
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