The Italian Minister of the Environment defends not euthanizing a bear that killed a person in Trento

ROME, 21 Apr. (DPA/EP) –

The Italian Environment Minister, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, defended this Friday saving the bear that killed a person in early April in the north of the country, considering that ending the animal “is not a solution.”

“We have to find a place for the bear. Killing it is not a solution,” said Fratin, who has defended relocating the animal instead of euthanizing it, as the local government had requested.

A few weeks ago, a 26-year-old man died after being attacked by the animal while he was exercising in the rural town of Caldes, in the province of Trento, a valley popular with hikers and tourists.

After protests by animal rights defenders, a court has suspended the order to kill the bear, known as JJ4, until May 11, in a hearing in which its fate will be decided.

This bear is the brother of Bruno, another plantigrade considered “problematic”, which was killed in Bavaria, Germany, in 2006. Since the 1990s, as part of a European project, these animals have been released into the forests of Trento.

It is estimated that a hundred bears now live in the forests of northern Italy. Following the recent incident, the region wants to cut their number in half.