The president of the autonomous province of Trento vents on the bear emergency, after the signing of a new culling order for Jj4, the bear that killed Andrea Papi locked up at the Casteller in Trento. A decision that rekindled the controversy against the Trentino administration, with animal rights activists once again on a war footing to prevent the animal from being killed. The problem however, explains Fugatti, is not so much this culling per se but the much wider phenomenon of the excess of plantigrades in his area. Speaking of Jj4, Fugatti cuts it short: «It ends up as it has to, I’d shoot it down tomorrow morning if they let me do it. The problem is not her but the approximately 70 bears in excess of the area compared to the original project. In Trentino there are over 100 and they have not moved to the other regions ».
The controversies
The center-right is also divided against Fugatti’s decision, from Minister Pichetto Fratin who has repeatedly wished the bear’s safety, up to the deputy Michela Vittoria Brambilla, engaged in the front line for a new appeal to the TAR. «I know that the issue is very divisive outside of Trentino, but there it unites us a lot in our region – explained Fugatti at the Lega’s Political Training School – The Trentino people are very united on this, it is right that the others ask themselves why. A 26-year-old young man died because he was attacked by a bear, after seven, eight attacks on people, sorry to say but we knew it would happen, because there was no will and we always reasoned in ideological terms”.
The coexistence of Trentino people with bears
“The problem is the coexistence that Trentino people have with bears – adds the Trentino president – there is a risk for people’s safety. I don’t expect the institutions to find a place for JJ4 but for the bears that are in excess, so the problem is tackled seriously. Otherwise the project is doomed to fail. Otherwise we save JJ4 and in 2030 we will be at 170 bears and then at 200, and then we will count the attacks». Meanwhile, time passes and the risk that a new accident may occur increases. Fugatti can only admit how the repopulation project has essentially gotten out of hand: «The balance between man and animal with the numbers that exist is no longer acceptable, either we find a place to move these animals or we have to do as they do in everything the world, where dangerous bears are shot down as soon as they attack a person and a selection is made for those in excess. Trentino cannot distort its mountains and change its approach to life because there are bears».
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