The animal that killed a jogger in Trentino has been pardoned by a court. A Romanian woman wants to take the bear to a reserve. But the Italian authorities do not want to let JJ4 leave the country.
If Cristina Lapis had her way, the brown bear JJ4, called Gaia, would long ago be lounging on a green meadow on Romanian soil, climbing up tree bark and crossing streams. “Your enclosure is prepared,” says Lapis over the phone. In the middle of the Carpathians, one hectare just for them, at least for the first few weeks, 118 other brown bears right next door. It is an idyll designed to make life more bearable for sick, abused and discarded bears. 68-year-old Cristina Lapis has been running it for 26 years. But even this Monday, JJ4 will not arrive in the Zărnești bear sanctuary in Romania. It is also 1000 kilometers to the west, in the autonomous province of Trentino. And that’s where it will probably stay.