The expert findings ordered by the Trento prosecutor's office on the body of Andrea Papi leave no room for doubt: the 26-year-old runner was killed by a bear, he was still alive at the time of the attack in the woods of Mount Peller, above Caldes . It is therefore the first killing of a person by a plantigrade in the Alps for over a century now .
The hypothesis put forward by the investigators was confirmed by the three experts - a coroner, a veterinarian and an animal DNA expert - who performed the autopsy tests.
The president of the Province of Trento , Maurizio Fugatti, signed an order for the killing of the specimen responsible for the attack, while he announced that he will ask Ispra to proceed with the suppression of three bears considered problematic (Mj5, Jj4 and M62) .
«For too long we have been concerned about the welfare of bears, forgetting the coexistence of communities with large carnivores . Now we ask the competent authorities that the path be reversed: the 'Life Ursus' project with these numbers cannot last", said the Trentino governor at a press conference.
The forest staff has also been tasked with supervising the area of the accident, informing anyone who ventures along the forest trails and paths of Mount Peller, and proceeding with the search for the bear that killed Papi.
The boy, a mountain running enthusiast, left the house in Caldes at 4 pm on Wednesday 5 April, heading towards Mount Peller, populated by about twenty bears. Around 5 pm he arrived at Malga Grum, at 1,525 meters above sea level, where he shot a short video and then published it on his Instagram profile. During the descent, perhaps around 6 pm, the attack took place. The young man was probably thrown into the escarpment by the roadside . The traces of blood start from the scrub under the edge of the forest track, before a hairpin bend that the young man may have cut in an attempt to escape the bear. A little further down, a stick with a bloody tip was also found, with which the 26-year-old would have tried to defend himself. The body, however, was found even further down in the woods, battered with scratches and wounds .
At 20.30 the family members raised the alarm for the failure to return home and a little later about sixty volunteer firefighters and the permanent body, plus another 50 Alpine Rescue workers with molecular dogs set out on Papi's trail, found just before 3 in the morning.
(Unioneonline/L)