Here we go again: yet another “attack” by a bear on a manin this case a 33 year old Piedmontese mushroom farmer, in the woods of Trento once again leads to sudden and unmotivated decisions. Indeed, to a decision, the usual one: the killing order by the president of the autonomous province of Trento, Maurizio Fugatti.
This time, however, it is Andrea himself who speaks, the person who found himself face to face with the bear. The man, who was in the forest picking mushrooms, had an experience that could have ended in tragedy, but instead was resolved without serious consequences.
In an interview with The Press he told how the truth is quite different compared to the “big headlines” we have read in recent days, reiterating that it was not an attack but an act of defense by the animal:
It surprised me from behind, throwing me to the ground and crushing me with its paws. . It was me in his house, not the other way around.
The bear didn’t use its claws to attack him
Andrea explained that, despite the scratches on the backthe bear had no intention of aggressively attacking him.
The nails are not retractable, so he scratched me as he crushed me, but he didn’t dig his nails in. I think he just wanted to tell me to stay still.
Confirming the fact that the bear didn’t want to harm him, the scare lasted a handful of seconds:
I looked around and, seeing that the bear wasn’t there more, I got up again. , as has been said. I was scared, yes, but I was also lucky.
“We should monitor them more”
As mentioned, the province of Trento announced that the bear will be killed, as required by the protocol for the management of dangerous bears. This decision deeply irritated Andrea who does not believe that this is the solution:
It bothered me to hear that they would have shot it down a few hours after the event. I don’t think the solution is to kill the bears. Rather, we should control them more, monitor their movements and better inform people about risk areas.
The International Organization for Animal Protection (Oipa) also expressed concern, stating that too many bears in Trentino have been killed in recent years and requesting access to the documents to better understand the circumstances. Oipa declared that, if the abatement decree is confirmed, will be ready to appeal to the TAR.
Andrea commented with the lucid reflection of someone who is used to frequenting those woods and perhaps for this very reason he felt too safe:
I knew it could happen sooner or later, but I put too much faith in the fact that there would be no danger. Now I think it’s necessary inform people better on how to avoid close encounters.
The hope is that his appeal does not go unheard and that more will be done promote peaceful coexistence between bears (who we remember being in their habitat) and humans. And this does not mean bringing this species to extinction out of a lust for power by signing sentence after sentence.
