“Gaia behaved extremely aggressively”

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It was not an easy task. Up to 40 men from a special forestry team roamed an area of ​​1,000 hectares. Chasing bear JJ4, also known as Gaia, was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Fresh tracks in the snow, a few cunning camera traps and broken signposts finally pointed to the proximity of the aggressive she-bear, who was traveling with three cubs. At about 11 p.m. on Monday night, Gaia fell into the trap.

Two weeks ago, the predator attacked and killed jogger Andrea P.* († 26) in Caldes in the touristic Val di Sole. An investigation revealed that the young man desperately tried to fend off the bear with a stick.

Now the bear itself had become the prey: the foresters had put fruit in a tube as a lure. The bear and two of her three cubs crept in. The trap snapped shut! The bear was stunned with an arrow shot while her cubs disappeared safely into the wilderness. “They are completely self-sufficient and are already in the post-weaning phase,” Raffaele De Col told Alto Adige. The head of civil defense told the mother bear: “She was exhibiting extremely aggressive behavior.”

Gaia awaits her fate behind an electric fence

Two veterinarians meanwhile took care of the anesthetized bear. She was taken in a small truck to an animal rescue center near Trento. There, Gaia is now in an enclosed space secured by an electric fence. What to do with the bear is now a legal question.

In 2020, Gaia had already attacked humans. A South Tyrolean butcher (59) and his son were on Monte Peller when the bear pounced on the younger of the two men at lightning speed. The father threw himself in between, with bite marks on his legs, arms and hands. With a loud roar, father and son managed to drive the animal away.

Shooting suspended by court order

Even then, Gaia would be cleared. But the State Council banned hunting the sister of former problem bear Bruno, who was shot by hunters in Bavaria in 2006. Even after the fatal attack on the jogger on April 5, the killing of the bear was temporarily suspended by court order.

The reason: Animal rights activists had reported the governor of Trentino, Maurizio Fugatti, for “inciting a crime” for ordering the bear shot. It is hoped that the Trentino Administrative Court will soon lift the shooting ban, Fugatti said at the press conference Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, there are three other dangerous problem bears in South Tyrol that are on the shooting list or for which culling has been requested. The attacks caused a heated discussion in South Tyrol. The call for a regulation of their population from 100 to 50 individuals is getting louder.

*Name known to editors

Source: Blick