words by Carol King A €5,000 reward is being offered to anyone who can help provide information regarding the killers of one of Italy’s last wild bears. The rare bear, known as ‘Stefano’, was shot on Monte Marrone on the Molise side of the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park. The park authority said he was killed in “true execution style”. X-rays carried out at the University of Teramo revealed Stefano was shot three times: in the head, chest and humerus. The park authority said that early findings show the bullets were from different rifles, suggesting the involvement of several poachers in what it described as a “brutal” execution that had caused “huge damage” to nature. The Lega Anti Vivisezione (Anti-Vivisection League, LAV) offered a €2,000 award and called on the Minister of the Environment, the police and the prosecutor’s office for an investigation into the shooting. Outraged citizens made donations, meaning the reward has risen to €5,000. LAV also asked the Minister of the Environment to guarantee the national park sufficient resources to guard the protected species. LAV has planted an apple tree at the site where Stefano met his bloody end. A sign hangs on the tree saying: “In memory of Stefano the bear, for all the other Stefanos.” However, not everyone is concerned that the bears face extinction: it has been reported that building speculators are keen to drive the bears out of their habitat. The shooting of Stefano is the most recent attack on the bears and poisoned bait has been found in the national park. Stefano was no ordinary bear, he was one of an estimated 60 Marsican bears left in the world. The Marsican bear is a subspecies of the brown bear that lives exclusively in the Central Apennines mountain range, in the Abruzzo National Park and the Montagne del Morrone. The bears are so rare that there are even plans to help save the bears from possible road accidents by building bridges and tunnels so they can cross busy highways safely.
