Killing of rare Italian bear raises fears for future of its subspecies

The killing of a widely known wild bear named Amarena has shocked Italy and raised recent doubts about whether or not people and enormous carnivores can coexist peacefully.

At 11pm on 31 August, Amarena was wandering by way of the streets of San Benedetto Dei Marsi within the Abruzzo area of Italy together with her two cubs, when she was shot lifeless by a person who mentioned he was defending his hen coop.

She was one among round 60 remaining Marsican brown bears (Ursus arctos marsicanus), a subspecies of the Eurasian brown bear categorized as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. It is principally discovered within the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park, one among Europe’s wildest areas, round an hour’s drive away from Rome. Poaching and collisions with automobiles and trains are the main causes of demise for the subspecies.

Typically, solely three to 4 females reproduce annually, having a complete of three to 10 new child cubs. Amarena was essentially the most prolific particular person ever recognized. In 2020, she gave delivery to 4 cubs, an unusually excessive quantity.

Marsican bears are sometimes noticed wandering across the small mountain villages in Abruzzo, and they’re an attraction for vacationers. But for the protection of bears and folks, the nationwide park and different establishments have tried unsuccessfully to stop them from approaching villages.

“The presence of wild animals in villages increases the risk of negative interactions with people and the likelihood of accidents,” says Mario Cipollone, the co-founder of Salviamo L’Orso, a non-profit organisation working to avoid wasting the Marsican bear from extinction. “If there are people who lure bears into towns for economic or selfish reasons, efforts by associations and institutions to keep these animals out of towns fail.”

Paula Mayer at ETH Zurich in Switzerland has studied the coexistence of bears and people in Abruzzo, utilizing a mathematical mannequin to map the areas during which battle is extra possible. She discovered there may be extensive variation in folks’s angle in direction of bears, with extra constructive views in communities that revenue from tourism and extra hostility in these depending on subsistence farming. Her analysis additionally reveals that state funding, akin to monetary compensation for harm attributable to bears, is essential for fostering constructive attitudes in direction of wildlife.

“In the area where Amarena was killed, the map shows a high probability of coexistence, meaning both threats to bears are low and human tolerance is high,” says Meyer. “However, a model remains a model and can never predict with certainty what will happen in reality.”

The killing of Amarena has taken folks without warning in a area that has been touted for instance of coexistence between people and enormous carnivores.

“I believe that some areas of Abruzzo are truly models of coexistence. However, without a change in values, in the sense that the general population accepts wildlife in a shared landscape even if it brings them no instrumental benefit, we will never reach a deeply rooted and sustainable state of coexistence in the social-ecological system,” says Mayer.

“There is a need for the state to recognise the protection of nature and endangered species as a national priority, to invest in a culture of knowledge and respect for biodiversity, in the prevention of conflicts with large carnivores,” says Cipollone.