On the morning of May 7, 2025, Two brown bear puppies Marsicano were found lifeless in the artificial basin of snow of the Carapale chairlift, a Scanno.
Both males, the children are drowned in what the association saves the bear, active in the Abruzzo area, has long defined a “ecological trap“. It was then a tragedy announced according to the association, which accuses the municipal administration of Scanno di omissions and inertia.
The danger of the pelvis had been known for years, the Association has known: in 2021 we save the bear had attempted a first secure putting by installing four metal ramps, one for each bank on the lake. But the intervention proved to be ineffective soon. “The ramps were damaged and unproven by ice and snow – reads the association’s press release – and since July 2022 we had solicited the Municipality to intervene”. A proposal to which, however, specifies the association, the Municipality did not follow.
After checking the inadequacy of the ramps – he explained to Greenme Serena Frauresponsible for projects and relations with the stakeholders – Save the bear proposed to install a network along the perimeter of the lake, underground 50 cm and 3 meters high with “paragatti”. The only solution that we know be effective and lasting to protect the whole Terrestrial fauna at risk of drowning.
View this post on Instagram
In an attempt to unlock the situation, the association, together with Rewilding Apenninesin 2023 he set 14,000 euros – 8,000 from Rewilding Apennines and 6,000 from Salviamo the bear – intended for the realization of the fence. The offer, formalized on October 16, 2023, by the Municipality of Scanno, explained the association.
Despite our multiple reports, and the proposed financial commitment – he told our microphones Valeria Barbiexpert in biodiversity and contact person of the communication of saving the bear – the municipal administration chose to be a merchant ear, ignoring our requests both in 2022, when we had pointed out that the installed ramps were not effective, both in 2023 and in subsequent references. An attitude that proved to be a dangerous rubber wall against which we all collided hard.
The willingness to contribute to safety was not limited to the two associations. Even the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park (Pnalm), despite not having direct competence on the area, had expressed its will to economically support the intervention.
Second Stefano Orlandinipresident of the Association, save the bear, the problem was not technical or regulatory nature.
For administrations such as that of Scanno – said Orlandini in Greenme – nature is too often a good to be claimed loudly When it is possible to draw an economic advantage – as happens during the tourist season – but which is then ignored, if not even penalized as in this case, and interpreted as a weight when it is necessary to move on to the words. The consequences, once again, are dramatic.
The association expresses a firm and critical position also on a cultural level. “We ask ourselves with what consistency we can boast of being”The land of the bears“And then systematically ignore the protection of wildlife”.
The Carapale basin is one of the many potentially dangerous plants present in the mountain territory of the Apennines. Let’s save the Bear and Rewilding Apennines contributed to the safety of About twenty between wells and tanksoften operating in bureaucratically complex or openly hostile contexts, explained the association. In one case, the intervention led to a complaint by a local administration, with the consequent interrogation of the activists by the forest carabinieri.
The death of the two puppies, however painful, strengthens the association’s commitment in promoting “Bear -friendly community”, Territorial initiatives aimed at making citizens and administrations aware of the risks and good practices for the coexistence with wildlife.
This event reinforces us, once again, the awareness that the conservation of nature only works if all the actors at stake take charge of a part of the commitment – underlined Serena Frau – for this reason we have been working for years to establish bear -size communities, in which the entire community is an active and conscious protagonist of what it means to live with bears and, wider radius, with the wild fauna of which these territories are rich.
Among the next objectives there is also it development of practical and accessible tools which allow anyone to quickly report other potentially dangerous situations. In the absence of systematic monitoring by the institutions, it becomes essential to build informal surveillance networks of the territory that directly involve citizens, hikers and local associations.
We hope – concluded the association – that what happened serves at least as a warning, and that another avoidable death should not be crying.
At the time of publication, there are no official positions of the municipal administration of Scanno regarding the incident. For completeness and duty of news, we also contacted the Municipality by phone: we were reported that today there was no available contact person. We will return to solicit an answer in the next few days, naturally remaining available to listen and publish their position as soon as possible.
