Bear blamed for Italy runner’s death in Alps gets reprieve from being euthanized for now

Officials say the bear’s life Assault on a person Last month has been spared, for now, an administrative court in Italy’s Alpine region ruled Friday. The brown bear, identified as Jj4, mauled 26-year-old Andrea Papi to death on a mountain trail, officials said, sparking a two-week hunt that led to the bear’s capture on April 18. went.

It was unclear whether Jj4 would have attacked Papi, who was on a training run, because the cubs were nearby. His family has said they oppose killing the bear.

With its ruling on Friday, a judicial panel in the city of Trento requested more details about the dynamics of the 17-year-old female bear attack and thus suspended an order by local authorities to euthanize the animal. .

The suspension will continue till June 27. But even then, the bear’s fate could not be decided, as a hearing was scheduled for December 14 to decide the merits of animal rights advocates’ proposals to relocate the bear to a sanctuary. Where animals do not pose a threat to humans.

Italian news agency ANSA also said the court concluded that more details from Papi’s autopsy were needed before a decision could be made on the bear’s fate.

Earlier this month, activists tried to argue over the victim’s teeth marks. It was established that the assailant was male.According to Agence France-Presse.

The provincial president has argued that Papi’s death could have been avoided if the bear had attacked and injured two people in 2020.

Jj4’s parents were brought to Italy from Slovenia two decades ago as part of a project, funded by the European Union, to increase the brown bear population that was feared to be over. are approaching extinction. Bear populations flourished, with the animals increasingly encountering people.

Reuters, citing official figures, reported that in 2021 there were about 100 wild bears in the region. According to Reuters, the local governor has said the ideal number would be around 50.