Andrea Papi, a 26-year-old Italian boy, was killed by a bear in the Italian Alps on Wednesday. The autopsy confirmed the hiker’s cause of death. This exceptional accident is relaunching the debate in France. The bear release policy is quite similar between the two transalpine countries.
It is an accident that is as extraordinary as it is dramatic, rekindling the debate about reintroducing bears to the Pyrenees. A young jogger was killed by a bear while hiking in northeastern Italy on Wednesday April 5, 2023. A first in Italy, which, like France, had never experienced such a tragedy.
Andrea Papi, 26, ran in a wooded and mountainous area not far from his village of Caldes, in the Trentino region. On his journey he apparently crossed a sole walker. Worried about not seeing him return, his parents sounded the alarm. Rescuers found his body in a ravine on the evening of April 5 with severe injuries to his neck, arms and abdomen. According to the first results of the autopsy carried out on Friday, Andrea Papi succumbed to the injuries of a bear.
A DNA analysis should identify the animal. The President of the Autonomous Province of Trentino, Maurizio Fugatti, announced at a press conference that the local authorities “have decided to launch an urgent operation to kill the bear”.
Between 1996 and 2004, 69 bears were counted in this province. Today it would be a hundred.
The situation is comparable to that in France, where Slovenian bears were also reintroduced in the Pyrenees, mainly in Ariège and Haute-Garonne, in the mid-1990s.
According to the French Biodiversity Agency, 76 plant species were identified in the Pyrenees chain in 2022.
In France, the reintroduction of the bear remains controversial. The death of a man this week in Italy has reignited the debate.
For Patrick Leyrissoux, vice-president of the Ferus association, which works to protect large carnivores, it is necessary to put things into perspective. “There is a legitimate emotion. This is the first bear death in south-west Europe for many decades, even a century. This type of event depends on many parameters: the bear, the circumstances, the human reaction. An investigation is underway with specialists to clarify the circumstances.”
For this association involved in the reintroduction of the bear in France, the bear can be dangerous to humans, but little more than other wild animals. The Ferus association is committed to better information and more education for hikers in mountain areas where bears live. “The DREAL (NDR: Regional Directorate for Environment, Planning and Housing) of Occitania publishes brochures to find out what to do if you encounter a bear. We have volunteers who travel around the Pyrenees every year to spread this kind of information. Locally elected officials must encourage their dissemination. But sometimes they prefer to use the bear for political purposes.”
Among local elected officials, opponents include Alain Servat, mayor of Ustou (09) and president of the Ariège Pastoral Association. “What just happened in Italy, we foresaw it, we said it. There is a high concentration of the bear population in the Couserans. We had warnings: a hunter, a wanderer who… We have not arrived Drama, but it will come.”
Alain Servat, Mayor of Ustou, and Christine Téqui, President of the Ariège Departmental Council, concerned about the drama that has just happened in Italy • © FTV
And the chosen one to denounce the bear’s lack of management since it returned to the Pyrenees. “We’ve reintroduced bears, they’re breeding and we’re not doing anything on the side. If we want to scare them away, we can’t because the prefectural decrees are being attacked. With the couserans, there should be a regulation to remove some of them without shooting them, but take them somewhere else. In Italy, where the tragedy happened, there was no management. We just saw how it ends.”
Same point of view with the President of the Department, Christine Téqui. “At some point you have to be able to scare off shepherds or wanderers. You also have to ask yourself the question of regulation. We can’t stay on the Couserans at a density 5x higher than planned. We’re going to have accidents.”
In the Ariège, too, at the Cirque de Cagateille, hikers take advantage of the long Easter weekend and the sun. “I don’t really think about the bear,” admits Jean-Pierre. I know he’s there, but I don’t think it’s any more dangerous than driving. The bear hears us before it hears us and it knows how to keep its distance.”
No more vigilance and attention from Béatrice. “It’s sunny and I’ll just enjoy my ride. I think we have to protect the bear. It belongs here.” Clearly the day’s walkers are not concerned and what happened in Italy has had no real impact.
If you want to enjoy the mountains too, what should you do if you encounter an unexpected bear? Here is the advice of Patrick Leyrissoux from the Ferus association. “He is often surprised by an isolated person because the animal recognizes them in a group because of the noise. You must keep your dog on a leash because sometimes he will track the animal and then come back to the man followed by the bear In case of a bear attack keep calm, no threatening gestures, don’t run and slowly walk away while talking to him like it the ancients said!