predators
Italian judges stop killing of female bear JJ4 again
Employees of the Trentino Forestry Corps prepare to transport the JJ4 bear to a wildlife reserve. photo
© -/provincial government of Trentino/dpa
Italian judges have upheld the lawsuit brought by animal protection organizations against the killing of the “problem bear” JJ4. The provincial government of Trentino is stunned, animal rights activists feel encouraged. And now?
Animal rights activists are pushing for relocation to a Romanian bear sanctuary after the order to kill the northern Italian bear JJ4 was stopped. In the months-long legal battle over the animal that attacked and killed a jogger in the woods in early April, judges made a decision on Friday. They opposed the provincial government Trentino, which had issued a decree to kill. According to the court’s reasoning, this was “disproportionate and incompatible” with national and supranational legislation.
However, the judgment of the Supreme Administrative Court in Rome, the Council of State, is only provisional. The case is now going back to the administrative court in Trento. This is expected to make the final decision in December.
At the end of April, the President of the Trentino-Alto Adige region, Maurizio Fugatti, issued a regulation to kill the animals. According to the Council of State judges, killing should only be a last resort and ordered only when there is no other valid solution.
Animal rights activists feel encouraged after Friday’s verdict. According to a statement, nothing now stands in the way of relocation to Romania. They want to relocate JJ4 to the “Libearty Bear Sanctuary” near the small town of Zărneşti in Transylvania, where more than 100 bears live on around 69 hectares. The Italian animal protection association Lav had repeatedly emphasized that they wanted to take care of the transport of JJ4. This should happen under the supervision of the German veterinarian Klaus Günther Friedrich.
The Trentino provincial government was stunned by the verdict. “This is a decision that leaves you at a loss – and you wonder if the life of an animal is worth more than that of a human being,” said Fugatti. He also wonders whether “human life or the communities in the mountains of Trentino are still respected at all”. More than ever, they want to work to ensure the highest level of security for the people in the region.
JJ4, a sister of the “problem bear” Bruno, who was killed in Bavaria in 2006, attacked and fatally injured a 26-year-old jogger on a forest path in Val di Sole in Trentino at the beginning of April. Regional President Fugatti ordered the bear to be killed. Courts stopped the decree after urgent requests from animal rights activists. JJ4 was caught and temporarily placed in an enclosure near Trento.