Italy: Bear who killed jogger gets reprieve

An Italian court has suspended the shooting order for “problem bear” JJ4 in the northern Italian province of Trentino.

The animal attacked and killed a 26-year-old jogger last week in the municipality of Caldes in Trentino. A DNA comparison confirmed this, after which the bear was ordered to be shot.

Now the provincial administrative court has upheld the appeal of animal welfare organizations, according to a decree published Friday. The clubs LAV and LAC, who had previously strongly criticized the dismissal order, had appealed to the court. According to the decree, it will a hearing before the court in Trento on 11 May to give.

The bear is the sister of the “problem bear” Bruno, who was shot dead in Bavaria in 2006. As early as 2020, the female bear must be killed. It then attacked two people, a father and his son, on Monte Peller. Also in 2020, a court ruled against the murder.

In Italy, however, the debate over the coexistence of bears and humans has intensified since the death of the Trentino jogger. The province wants to kill the bear and massively reduce the number of bears in the area in general. Animal welfare organizations have criticized the plans. The animal protection organization LAV responded to the court’s verdict on Twitter: “The bears and citizens of Trentino have the right to live together in peace!”

(sda/dpa)