ROME – Last night bear J14 was captured because she is responsible for the death of the 26-year-old Andrea Papi who was attacked by the animal when running on the Mount Peller paths. 

 The bear was captured by an expert team of the Forestry Corps and has now been transferred to the Casteller Alpine Fauna Recovery Center near Trento, waiting on its sentence. 

 Maurizio Fugatti, president of the Province of Trento has now called for a culling order against bear J14 which the Tar has suspended on the grounds of the Anti-Vivisection League (Lav) and the Hunting Abolition League (Lac).  

 At a press conference convened to illustrate the details of the capture of Jj4, Fugatti declared that: “The hope is that the court will be able to anticipate the decision. In the event of a positive judgment, we will proceed with the killing.” 

Shortly after the conference, the TAR confirmed it is taking the steps necessary to reach a decision by April 20th. 

 Ispra, the Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research will also have to weigh in on the decision, and then on May 11th, the council is set to meet to decide the faith of the bear which will either be abatement or transfer outside of the region. 

Bear J14 – J14 was found responsible for the attack after a genetic analysis was carried out at the Edmund Mach Foundation. The 17-year-old plantigrade was born in Trentino from two specimens in Slovenia, Joze, and Jurka, and was released into the wild as part of the Life Ursus Project. 

 Since the bear's release into the wild, it has already been responsible for multiple attacks, including the attack on a father and son in June 2020, after which the Provincial of Trento had already called for the death of the animal, which was rejected by the Tar and ended with the animal being equipped with a radio collar. 

 The animal had however managed to release itself from the collar and so there was no data collection during the attack on Papi. 

 Given the violent history of the bear, Fugatti is intent on seeing it killed, saying at the conference that: “It is news that we would have liked to give in 2020 when we issued the capture and slaughter orders for the reasons that we have explained several times. There is bitterness for what has happened in this time and this counts in the emotions of the people of Trentino. Jj4 is at the Casteller and we have delivered the requested documentation to the Tar," explained the president of the Province of Trento during the press conference. Then Fugatti explained: “We have strengthened the presence of the forces of order in front of the Casteller for any demonstrations by animal rights activists that are the consequence of what happened. We wished we could have killed the bear on the spot "

 Animal rights activists however are dead set against the killing of the animal. The Italian Association for the Defense of Animals and the Environment released a statement post-attack saying that "We ask for respect for the life of the bear JJ4 and for her nature and that she is immediately put in a position to be transferred to a protected sanctuary among those indicated by the Lav which is located within the European Union.” They also requested for her release to be sooner rather than later saying that “ Do not condemn her to a long period of imprisonment in the Casteller concentration camp and at the same time continue the research to verify if the bear has cubs that risk dying without the presence of the mother", adds the note. The M49 bear already lives at the Casteller di Trento, known as Papillon because he managed to escape the facility twice before being recaptured and "incarcerated" for life.”

The attack has also raised other issues around the ‘Life Ursus Project’ with critics saying that the project has caused an excessive amount of bears in the region making it a dangerous environment for human beings. According to Fugatti, there are currently 70 bears too many and four bears in custody after carrying out attacks against human beings, two of those bears are set to be killed and two are still pending. The fate of the bear J14 is unlikely to be death as it seems to have the Tar on its side, and will more likely be transferred to another region in Europe to enjoy her freedom. 

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