M90 bear has been taken and shot in Trentino after the go-ahead given by the province's administration. President Maurizio Fugatti had signed the decree yesterday authorizing the operation "subject to recognition". Carrying out the operation, as required by the decree, was a team of the Trentino Forestry Corps, which went into action in a mountainous area of Lower Val di Sole. The animal was identified by observation of the radio collar and ear tags. ISPRA (Superior Institute for Environmental Protection and Research), after reviewing the bear's history, had indicated to the administration the possibility of bear capture or removal. The governor had therefore chosen the path of culling: the animal, considered "confidant" with humans and therefore problematic, had on several occasions approached population centers. The animal on Sunday had chased for about 800 meters a 30-year-old engaged couple who were walking along the forest road above the village of Ortisé, in the municipality of Mezzana, in Val di Sole. "Suppression cannot be the only alternative," commented Environment and Energy Security Minister Gilberto Pichetto, however, "If what has been put in place with the province of Trento to date has not been sufficient, the commitment on the part of everyone must be to multiply efforts to find every possible solution to ensure peaceful coexistence in the territories. I have again mobilized all the structures under the ministry to define a timely strategy in which culling should really be the extreme solution".
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