Italy: Bear M90 Shot by Forest Authorities
In the province of Trento, the bear M90, classified as dangerous, was killed by forest authorities. Animal welfare advocates are criticizing the shooting.
Shot in Record Time
In the Italian Alps, a bear classified as dangerous (M90) has been shot.
Employees of the forest authorities killed the two-and-a-half-year-old animal on 6 February 2024 in the province of Trento, as local authorities announced. According to their statements, it was moving with “pronounced confidence” near towns. On 28 January, it had followed hikers at a distance of approximately 500 metres, whereupon the Institute for Nature Conservation and Environmental Research (ISPRA) immediately called for it to be shot.
Tracking Device and Ear Tag Confirmed Identity
Barely had the shooting decree been signed when rangers located bear M90 in the Val di Sole. The animal was wearing a tracking device around its neck. An ear tag also confirmed its identity. The Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) had previously spoken out in favor of removing the M90 bear as quickly as possible. The shooting decree had only been signed that morning. Animal welfare advocates reacted with horror to the shooting carried out in record time.animal welfare advocates reacted with horror.
120 to 200 Bears in Italy
Regional president Maurizio Fugatti granted permission for this. He had already spoken out the previous year in favor of limiting the bear population, after a bear killed a jogger on a hiking trail in the same region on 7 April. The animal welfare organisation OIPA condemned the shooting of the bear as a “blind and anti-animal policy” by the authorities of Trento.
The northern Italian province pursued the “Life Ursus” programme between 1996 and 2004 with the aim of reestablishing bears in northern Italy. 50 bears were intended to settle there, but there are now far more. In total, between 120 and 200 bears live in Italy, primarily in Trento and in the Abruzzo region in the center of the country.
