SCANNO. Luciano Sammarone, director of the Abruzzo Lazio Molise National Park, released some statements regarding the Marsican brown bear which was found lifeless yesterday afternoon in the Chiarano-Sparvera regional state forest, near the picnic area, at margins of the contiguous area of the Park in the territory between Rocca Pia and Scanno.
“It’s a huge loss, even if the first hypotheses speak of a competition between bears,” Sammarone said. Based on the first cadaveric reconnaissance, in fact, signs emerged that could suggest a fight between plantigrades: an element supported by the presence, nearby, of tufts of bear fur which were found and collected for genetic analysis.
The animal is reportedly an adult male bear, at least 10 years old, whose death is believed to have occurred less than 24 hours before its discovery. The bear, which was seized by the Sulmona forestry police and park rangers, will be transported to the Teramo Zooprophylactic Institute tomorrow. “Only through the investigations that will be carried out both at the veterinary medicine clinic of the University of Teramo and at the Zooprophylactic Institute of Teramo will it be possible to establish the real causes of death and exclude any poisoning or acts of poaching”, concluded Sammarone.
Meanwhile, Aidaa (Italian Association for the Protection of Animals and the Environment) says that next week it will send a complaint to the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Sulmona to request in-depth investigations into the causes of the bear’s death, on which animal rights activists have a very specific thesis if it were to be a case of poisoning: “In that area – we read in a note – many truffle hunters operate and the presence of the bear could annoy them in their search activities, not to mention the fact that in recent months there have been dozens of poisoned truffle dogs and therefore, if the poisoning were confirmed, that would certainly be the first lead to follow, obviously without neglecting other hypotheses”. However, Aidaa concludes, “before drawing conclusions we are waiting to know the results of the autopsy tests”.
