After more than two years of imprisonment at the Casteller’s faunal center, Trentino, the Jj4 Orsa found a new arrangement: a large fence immersed in the black forest, in Germany. Here he took his first steps in a semi-natural environment, far from concrete cages.
It is not a full freedom, of course, but at least it is a context closer to nature. The video of his entrance, shared by the operators of the alternative park for bears and wolves, shows the bear explore the territory with caution but also with a certain determination.
JJ4 has become in spite of himself a symbol of the problematic management of the great carnivores in Trentino. After the mortal aggression to Andrea Papi in 2023, his fate seemed marked: immediate demolition. Only the intervention of associations and appeals to the TAR avoided the most tragic epilogue. And so, after long months in insulation, the choice of transfer to a European sanctuary has arrived, away from the spotlight and rifles. A decision that marks the end – or perhaps only the pause – of a conflict never really resolved.
Freedom yes, but supervised
As said, talking about freedom is perhaps too much. JJ4 is in a fence, larger and tree -lined than that of the Casteller, but still closed. It is a supervised freedom, a minimum concession for an animal that basically did only what nature has taught her. But in Trentino – where the bear was reintroduced thanks to a European project – coexistence with man proved to be more fragile than expected.
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At the Casteller it remains M49
While JJ4 faces this new phase, M49 remains at the Casteller, nicknamed “Papillon” for its spectacular escapes. He too awaits a definitive destiny. The stories of these bears tell much more than simple accidents: they are the spy of an inadequate environmental policy, where the man-fauna conflict is solved too often with felling or implusions. More prevention would be needed, more information and less proclaims. But above all, a paradigm change would be needed: from emergency management to a true conscious coexistence.
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