Wilderness Italia on the controversial issue of the “Daniza” bear: what problem?
Why kill a bear if the bear attacks a person? This is the basic question that many ask themselves after the attack on a mushroom hunter by the bear called "Daniza" by the researchers of the Life Ursus project of Trentino (but an anonymous abbreviation was not better to define these animals subject to studies - an acronym to be forgotten when the research is completed -, instead of a human nickname which is already in itself a sign of domestication and subjection to man, therefore of visceral animalism?) and of which all the national press and media they wrote and talked in this dreary month of August. A question that is not easy to answer, because both a positive and a negative answer are valid. If a bear attacks a person, for guilty that the person may have been (excessive voluntary approach?), It is certain that he will do it again, because with that behavior the bear has overcome the psychological barrier that made him see a danger in man, therefore a fear that pushed him to refuse close contact: by attacking the man, the animal had the proof that he was the strongest.
It is the same phenomenon that pushes tigers, lions, leopards, elephants, polar bears and brown bears, as well as wolves and sharks, to become aggressive and, sometimes, even "anthropophagous". Despite this, in many cases (and it could be that of Daniza) the man has the first duty to "forgive" the gesture, to justify it, as the bear has no fault of the mistakes made by man. But on condition that it does not repeat itself, or that it reveals similar attitudes, because otherwise the need to defend man becomes more important than the defense of an animal that has now become a danger for anyone who visits its places. Unless you want to reserve a natural space for that bear in which to let it live without human intrusions: but, for obvious reasons, this is no longer possible in our country and perhaps not even elsewhere. Usually, all over the world animals that become addicted to humans are eliminated, either by capture or by killing.
This last thing is almost always done in the case of Grizzly, Tigers and Lions, animals of great size and strong aggressive nature. If you really want to be lenient then give Daniza a chance again (although she has already created similar problems in the past), but then, if the fact is repeated, decide on one of the two solutions; and perhaps, humanly speaking, that of killing is the most pitiful and "compassionate" one, because locking an animal that has lived free for fifteen years in a cage or fence would be even more cruel! She will pay for a fault that is man's.
But man makes a reason for it and from this reason you learn not to make mistakes anymore. But also do not cry out to scandal if those responsible for it should decide to protect themselves by ordering the capture or even the killing of Daniza right now! Because an error and / or lack of foresight has already been made with Daniza and / or with his other companions: too many of them have been freed, so from a policy of re-bleeding we have passed to one of real repopulation, as there are today more bears with Slovenian blood in Trentino than those who still carry Trentino blood in their veins.
And the bears of Trentino (such as those of Abruzzo, the Pyrenees and Spain) were and are less aggressive towards humans and their pets than the brown bears of Eastern Europe, Asia or the North. America. Perhaps it was necessary to bleed again, but without exceeding the input of individuals, so that the population could reform itself in a longer time (as is being done in the French Pyrenees): perhaps he was wrong only in having been in a hurry to recreate a population considered "vital"!
God forbid that the same process of "re-bleeding" is not proposed for the Marsican bear, a population of bears even milder than those of Trentino, so mild that they have made the age-old fear of the bear disappear from local communities. always characterized the man and that is still present where the bear has become extinct making him lose his memory. Then yes, the entire population will be exterminated! So, far from the authorities the temptation to listen to some scholar who is too loyal ... or interested!
It is true that bears and humans can coexist, as some animal rights activists have written, but on the condition that the bears reserve those living spaces that they do not want to leave, pretending to make them tourist attractions at any cost, so to make them believe (or make them become!) almost domestic in order to satisfy the tourist need (which then means business, for some!). Bears and wolves must have their spaces, and man must respect them and must reimburse the damage they cause, but also, man must make sure that only in those spaces they can continue to live, and not expect to make them come back to live even where the presence of man must be primary. Otherwise we lie to public opinion, as almost all animal rights activists do, trying to make people believe that the bears are only “Yogis” and the wolves of the “Lupo Alberto”. Longbums and ... untouchables!
Preventing the elimination of the so-called "problem bears" of Trentino is a purely animalist and not a conservationist fact, as being reintroduced bears, it will be enough to reintroduce others of the many who live in Eastern Europe and everything will return as before. Let's not forget that the Trentino bear has now become, in fact, a Slovenian imported bear, therefore no longer at risk of extinction, as it will be possible to reintroduce as many as we want from Eastern Europe, if we really want to have it as an element of alpine biodiversity.
There are those who argue that "the motorways don't close because there has been an accident", and it seems a fair reasoning; but, unfortunately, it is precisely those who write these things who would ask for the closure of the highways if a bear were hit! And proof of this is the fact that when a bear was hit on the Rome-L'Aquila, there were those who immediately asked for expensive "anti bear barriers" along the Abruzzo motorways! As usual, the animal placed above the human value! Ah, how right you are Pope Francis!
Murialdo, 21 August 2014
Frank Zunino
Secretary General of the Italian Wilderness Association
formerly the first scholar in the field of the Marsican Brown Bear
Italian Wilderness Association