Italy questions plan to reintroduce bears after country’s first fatal attack in years

Genetic analysis confirms bear linked to previous attack on father and son

(AFP via Getty Images)

DNA left at the scene of Italy’s first fatal bear attack in years is being used to hunt the animal, amid calls to re-evaluate a two-decade scheme to reintroduce them to the northern region of Trentino.

The funeral of Andrea Papi, the sports graduate killed during a mountain run in the Trentino province, was to be held on Wednesday, alongside a regional day of mourning to mark the “shocking” death.

The 26-year-old’s body was discovered last Thursday with severe injuries on his neck, arm and chest, while shorts and a vest were recovered near a line of blood stretching 100 metres to a spot where authorities believe Papi first encountered the bear.

Researchers collecting DNA evidence from the scene – including a bloodied tree branch which it is thought Papi might have tried to defend himself with, and nearby animal droppings – confirmed the identity of the bear.

Genetic analysis by the Edmund Mach Foundation confirmed the bear responsible for Papi’s death was PP4, a 17-year-old animal linked to an attack on a father and son on Mount Peller in June 2020, according to the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Trento.

Andrea Papi, 26, was killed by a bear while running in mountains near the town of Caldes ( )

Local authorities have asked for the animal to be put down. They had applied for the bear to be euthanised in 2020, when it attacked a father and son near the same area. A court ruling overturned the decision at that time.

The 17-year-old bear wears a GPS-equipped radio collar that should track its movements. The last update on the official monitoring page of the Trento province website, before Papi's death, said updates on the position of the bear were temporarily suspended due to the faulty signal from its radio collar.

Environment Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin met local authorities on Tuesday to discuss a response to the attack, including the use of anti-aggression sprays as well as the mass relocation of Trentino's bear population to other Italian regions or even abroad.

Brown bears were reintroduced to the region in around the turn of the millennium as part of a programme dubbed “Life Ursus”, ursus being the Latin word for “bear”, and the population has since surged from three to around 100, according to data fromTrento's provincial authorities, with JJ4 among the relocated creatures’ offspring.

But with the animals remaining concentrated largely in Trentino, rather than spreading across the Alps as envisaged, Italy’s environment ministry announced on Tuesday that bears may be moved to other parts of the country, while local officials could be equipped with anti-bear spray and other defensive weapons.

With authorities having ordered the culling of the bear and at least two others – a task forestry officials said could take weeks – reports also suggest that the grieving family of Papi could seek to take legal action against the province over the Life Ursus reintroduction programme.

Papi’s family was quoted by the local Daily T newspaper as alleging that the scheme’s management “has not been able to adapt and face the increase in bears and has not decided to act after the many attacks that have been over the years”, prompting Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni to call Papi’s mother Franca Ghirardini, vowing to take action.

A female brown bear and her cubs pictured in Finland (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

“Nothing was done,” his mother said in an open letter. “Andrea was born and raised here, he loved nature and respected it, his territory, his peaks, his trails, were his life. I ask all those people who live in mountain regions to make your voices heard and not abandon us and not let your guard down, because I, and all my family, will fight until the end to bring justice to my Andrea.”

Meanwhile, Papi’s funeral was to be held at 3pm on Wednesday, with the mayor of Caldes announcing a day of mourning on Wednesday, to be marked in all of the surrounding valley’s 13 municipalities.

The graduate’s friends have erected a tribute to him in Caldes, where part of the town will be pedestrianised in anticipation of a large turnout for the memorial service, the local paper reported.

“We are all shocked,” said Caldes mayor Antonio Maini. “To lose a young man in this way is scary. His death is a huge blow to his family and the community.”

Reuters contributed to this report