The bear that killed a man running in the woods near a mountain village in northern Italy has been caught. Authorities in Trento said the bear, identified as JJ4, was caught at night with a trap and brought in a cage to a wildlife park in Castelar.

The provincial president, whose order to kill the animal was suspended by an administrative court last week, told a news conference that “we wanted to shoot the bear while it was being captured.”

Andrea Papi, 26, was training in a wooded mountain area near his village of Caldes in the Trentino region.

His family, concerned that he had returned home late, reported the matter to the authorities. Rescuers found him dead in a ravine. He had deep wounds on his neck, arms and chest, and it was obvious that they had been inflicted by some large carnivore.

According to the results of a forensic medical examination, Andrea Papi died from injuries inflicted by a bear, according to a source close to the investigation, confirming the information of the Italian media.

In March, another person was attacked by a bear in the same area. Due to the success of the Life Ursus bear reintroduction project in Trentino (1996-2004), 69 bears were recorded in the region in 2021. In fact, there are about 100 of them, although the program predicted that their population would be about 50 animals, Fugati commented, in order to ensure a safe coexistence with the locals.

“Therefore, it is advisable to reduce this number as soon as possible,” he added.

However, Anamaria Prokatsi of the National Animal Welfare Association (Enpa) denounced the lack of preventive action by the authorities. “A man is not a target of a bear, which, on the contrary, is a particularly shy animal that keeps its distance” from people, the ex-deputy emphasized, noting that no efforts had been made to “prevent access to areas where she-bears live with their cubs.”

The environmental organization WWF, while opposing the systematic extermination of bears involved in non-fatal attacks, has said that whoever is responsible for the death of young Andrea should be killed.

There are about 120-200 bears in Italy, mainly in Trentino and Abruzzo.

Source: APE-MPE, AFP.