Environmentalists: “It is a very serious act for the conservation of the species”
Since the bear Juan Carrito came out of the den a month ago, the monitoring and management activities have entered a new phase, now the animal will be captured for its temporary transfer to the Palena bear wildlife area (Chieti). Once the emergency has passed, the animal will be taken away and from then on initiatives will start to assess whether it is still possible to eliminate or reduce problematic / confident behaviors and allow the bear to stay in its natural environment. In recent days, despite the presence of technicians and the Forest Police, in Roccaraso the curiosity of tourists had generated dangerous situations.
The two-year-old bear, one of the four of the Amarena litter, shows up in the town even in broad daylight, its diet is now made up of only food of anthropogenic origin, all fear of humans has disappeared. A situation, underlined by the Maiella Park, which required an intervention to save the bear from potentially very dangerous situations for itself and for people.
Juan Carrito is one of the few Marsican brown bears that survive only in the Central Apennines. The current intervention aims to protect Juan Carrito and try to avoid his definitive captivation. “In the meantime – reads a note from the Park – we ask those who are in Roccaraso to follow the instructions received from the staff of the Maiella Park and from the Forestry Police”.
Wwf: wrong behavior with this bear
“The bear either we want it or we don’t want it, if we say we want it, then we must do everything to make it possible for it to visit our territories in a safe and natural way, without making it a circus animal attracted to the countries so that tourists can photograph it with the phones -. This is what Dante Caserta, Wwf Italy vice president declares, speaking in the story of the bear Juan Carrito -. Ispra, responding to a request of 3 March formalized by the Maiella National Park and the Abruzzo Region in concert with the other bodies involved, gave a favorable opinion on the capture of the M20 Bear ».
The WWF recalls that the Marsican bear is a species present only in this territory with about sixty individuals: “losing even one would be a serious blow to the possibility of salvation from the extinction of the population and to the conservation efforts put in place in primis by Parks and associations, also thanks to projects such as LIFE ARCPROM ». The bear, which has been radio-collated for some time, still remembers the WWF note, had already been captured last December and released in the mountains, but soon after had returned to frequent Roccaraso. In the wildlife area of Palena (Chieti) where it will be brought after the capture there are already three female bears of Euro-Asian origin. “Even in the awareness that the complexity of the situation could not have simple solutions, it remains to be asked whether everything was really done to avoid such a sad transition.”
“Surely it must be given to the National Park of Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise to have put in place a considerable effort to follow Juan Carrito, in collaboration with entities such as the Maiella National Park, to avoid his capture: to all veterinarians, guard -park, Carabinieri-forestali goes a big thank you. But the management and prevention activities are lacking in the areas affected by Roccaraso. We have seen wrong behaviors that have done nothing but make Juan Carrito always safe. The lack of basic prevention measures such as anti-bear bins, the abandonment of food in the street, the continuous chasing the bear even with dogs following are behaviors that have been recommended to avoid for years and that instead have been repeated for months without no sanction “. “Risking to lose a young Marsican bear, taking it away from its natural life to lock it up in a wildlife area due to lack of preventive actions by competent bodies, starting with the Municipalities, is a very serious act for the conservation of the species” .
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