In addition to the scratch marks, bearskin hair was also found on the front bumper. The bear’s behavior was surprising, such a case had not been known before.
A bear apparently scratched a car parked in front of a courtyard in a scattered settlement in Völs am Schlern in South Tyrol on Tuesday night. This was reported by the South Tyrolean media on Wednesday. The bear’s behavior was surprising, and such a case had not been reported before, said the director of the country’s forestry department on the internet platform “stol.it”.
Foresters got bear DNA from the car. This will now be analyzed “and then we will see if we have already found traces of this bear somewhere”, explains director Günther Unterthiner. In addition to the scratch marks, bearskin hair was also found on the front bumper. The state said three bears are currently on the move in South Tyrol, one in Ulten, one in Barbiano and one in Eppan. It is quite possible that the bear made a detour to Völs in Barbiano. It was announced last week that these bears are not problem animals and therefore do not pose an increased risk to the population.
For now, why a bear was targeting a car remained open. It was assumed, for example, that the sweet smell of soda could be what the predator was looking for under the metal shell. The car is older, so the liquid may have leaked, according to the forest department’s hypothesis for “Rai Südtirol”.
The mayor of Völs saw the incident as a political challenge: “Now something must finally happen. Legal requirements must be created to control the problem. Our country is not a suitable habitat for bears. Who makes the laws? This is politics, not environmental groups.” Opposition South Tyrol Liberals also used the incident as an opportunity to demand a “clear law on the removal” of bears and wolves.
(APA)