The bear M49 on Mount Marzola

The bear M49 on Mount Marzola

The bear M49 – escaped from the Casteller Wildlife Center, where he was confined – is now on Mount Marzola, above Trento. The animal became famous in 2019 due to a first escape and a 289-day hiding in the mountains of Trentino Alto Adige.

Brown bearf

He passed the electric barrier and, having reached the last fence, slipped out, bending a 12-millimeter-thick railing. And so – as announced by the president of the Autonomous Province of Trento Maurizio Fugatti – during the night of July 27, the bear M49 escaped again from the enclosure of the Casteller Wildlife Center, south of Trento, where it was imprisoned in April. last.

On the run on Mount Marzola

According to what was communicated, the animal is still on the Marzola , a mountain overlooking Trento, in the same area where it was located immediately after the escape.

Contrary to what happened in 2019, this time it is possible to monitor its movements thanks to the radio collar it is equipped with.

In fact, the guard personnel noticed what had happened and noticed how the signal of the apparatus suddenly departed from outside the enclosure. At the moment, the men of the State Forestry Corps are manning the area.

No to imprisonment and killing: the position of Minister Costa and animal rights activists

President Fugatti promptly warned the Minister of the Environment Sergio Costa , who alerted the Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (Ispra) and noted his position on Facebook on Facebook : ” How did #Papillon, nickname of Henri Charrière, the French fugitive, is the best nickname we could have chosen for the M49 bear […]. My position remains the same: every animal must be free to live according to its nature […]. Papillon has a radio collar, so it can be easily traced and monitored: it has never hurt anyone, only material damage that can be easily reimbursed. Let’s askthat he is not locked up and absolutely not shot down “.

An opinion shared by the major animal welfare associations, which oppose the capture by permanent captivation or a possible culling order.

The International Animal Protection Organization (OIPA)  reminds that “the Pacobace (Interregional action plan for the conservation of the brown bear in the central-eastern Alps) provides in article 3 the possibility, in the case of a ‘problematic’ bear (always if M49 is to be considered as such), to proceed with preventive actions such as, for example, capture with release for the purpose of moving to a suitable area and not necessarily, as instead done by the Autonomous Province of Trento, capture by permanent captivation “.

The story of M49, aka Papillon

M49 is a bear of nearly four years and about 170 pounds, and does not like to be confined. This is demonstrated by the two escapes, which took place between 2019 and 2020 , between the woods and mountains of Trentino Alto Adige .

Following several raids in huts and stables, which took place in the spring of 2019, last summer the bear suffered its first capture. 

A confinement lasting only a few hours, after which the animal skilfully climbed over the fence of the wildlife center and fled, keeping the interest of the whole of Italy alive for months. The traces left behind were not enough to catch him: the last one in the Vanoi, in October 2019, before hibernation.

In March 2020, with the colder temperatures behind it, Papillon made its reappearance, starting, over the weeks, some raids and damage to mountain huts and buildings. It was April 28 when the men of the Forestry Corps put an end to his first inaction, taking it back to the Casteller Wildlife Center. 

90 days later, he is engaged in a new escape , which the presence of the radio collar promises to be short. Without prejudice to the desire for freedom, the temperament and determination of an animal that has proven to have a thousand resources.

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