Zero Carbon Cowboys 3: Vital rewilding… or back to barbarism? 800lb killer bears terrorise Italian villages

14 Sep 2024 by IAN BIRRELL IN THE ITALIAN ALPS and MARCELLO ROSSI

The mountain village of Caldes, surrounded by forests below the jagged peaks of the Alps, has been officially recognised as one of the most beautiful places in Italy.

Yet, today, many villagers are scared to go into those forests. One elderly woman told me she had abandoned hiking and photographing nature. Her neighbour pointed out the trails that he no longer strolls along every weekend.

Giuseppe Rizzi, 72, president of the village council, has stopped walking his dog to visit his allotment in the forest. And his wife Alba doesn’t feel safe going out after dark, saying: ‘I don’t remember ever being scared like this when I was growing up.’

The reason these villagers – many from ­generations of tough mountain folk who lived as hunters and shepherds – are so fearful is ­simple: a neighbour, while on a run last year, was mauled to death by a female bear.

The attack on Andrea Papi, 26, as he jogged in the Dolomites, shocked Italy, sparking a national debate over the wisdom of a policy to reintroduce brown bears here.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13850659/rewilding-killer-bears-Italian-villages.html

The clash pitted politicians against animal rights activists, conservationists against local people. Meanwhile, the bear, though spared from being put down by the country’s top court, is now trapped in captivity, with wildlife experts complaining about the cruelty of her ‘jail’ sentence.

The controversy recently ­reignited after another female bear was killed on orders of the region’s governor following an attack on a French tourist. In an unexpected twist, the ­victim, Vivien Triffaux, 43, then said he was ‘really sad’ for his role in the death of a mother protecting her cubs, adding: ‘I’m truly pained that our encounter cost her life.’

The saga over how to handle aggressive bears after the success of a ‘rewilding’ project in the Italian Alps comes at a time when hundreds of other brown bears across Europe – from Sweden to Romania – are being culled.

‘We have lost all our bearings on this issue,’ says environmentalist Francesco Romito. ‘We need to conserve bears for the future but also understand the fears of the local community.’

The bear now in captivity, which was responsible for Italy’s first fatal mauling for 150 years, has been named JJ4 – being the fourth daughter of Joze and Jurka, two bears caught in Slovenia and released with eight others into a national park near Trento more than two decades ago.

Their translocation was part of a project called Life Ursus, which began after bears in this region were on the brink of extinction.

This EU-backed scheme to restore the predators at the top of the food chain was deemed a success, with at least 120 bears now living in the region. Inevitably, there have been close encounters with people.

The bear, JJ4, was tranquilised (pictured) and is now in captivity having been spared by the country’s top court. JJ4 was responsible for Italy’s first fatal mauling for 150 years
Eurasian brown bears are big beasts. They can be taller than a human, weigh up to 800 lb and charge at 35 mph, with males roaming vast distances. Though usually shy of people and largely nocturnal, they can react aggressively when frightened – ­especially mothers with cubs.

After Andrea Papi was killed by JJ4, it emerged that the bear had been involved in an attack four years earlier – mauling a man who was hiking with his father. There have been at least six other assaults over the past decade resulting in serious injuries.

Many houses in Caldes now display banners demanding ‘Justice for Andrea’. His father, Carlo, told me people are furious over the rewilding scheme and failure to inform residents about attacks.

‘I’m filled with anger,’ said the retired head waiter. ‘The ­authorities knew there was a dangerous bear out there but didn’t warn ­anyone.

‘We’ve been waiting for justice but it seems it will never come. We want accountability – someone to go to jail. The decision to reintroduce bears has been a disaster.’

Caldes residents told me that a bear had been seen strolling through a children’s playground the previous night. A few days earlier, said one woman, a car had been badly damaged by a bear standing on it to reach fruit from a tree. Alberto Perli, mayor of Andalo, a popular tourist town, said that even fixing rubbish bins in concrete failed to stop these powerful animals from tipping them over to rummage for food. The authorities are now building underground bins.

Eurasian brown bears are big beasts. They can be taller than a human, weigh up to 800 lb and charge at 35 mph, with males roaming vast distances.

Surveys by Trentino’s wildlife department found the reintroduction project was well-supported when it began but now 70 per cent of locals dislike their booming bear population.

Franca Ghirardini, 61, mother of the fatally mauled jogger, complained that locals had never been consulted on rewilding.

Yet such has been the furore following her son’s death that she and her husband have suffered a repulsive barrage of hate mail and abuse on social media, resulting in 21 complaints to the police.

Some staff in the regional government have also quit their jobs due to the hostility aroused among animal lovers by the original ­decision to shoot JJ4.

The bear’s life was spared – along with another beast that attacked a hiker – after activists appealed to Italy’s highest court and judges ruled that putting it down would be a ‘disproportionate’ punishment.

Claudio Groff, who heads Trento’s Large Carnivores Division, said JJ4 was likely to be deported to Germany later this year. ‘Co-­existing with bears means removing those that pose a danger to humans,’ he said.

Marina Chini, of Collettivo Scobi, which campaigns on animal rights and opposed the putting down of JJ4, says the risk of being mauled by a bear is negligible compared with other dangers in the mountains. ‘Many, many more people are killed by cars,’ she said.

Alessandro de Guelmi, a retired vet who trapped 18 bears for research and public safety while overseeing captures in Trentino between 2014 and 2019, said a ‘fantastic’ scheme had been ruined after it was taken over by politicians. ‘I’ve never had a problem because bears are intelligent. If you know what you are doing, they will not harm you,’ he said.

He explained that it is a normal reaction to scream when confronted by a bear, ‘but this makes it afraid’. He told me about once coming across a sleeping bear. ‘I pulled its cheek softly, like with a cat or child, and it opened its eyes at me. I thought it might go crazy but as soon as it opened its eyes I knew it was OK. It was the most beautiful moment of my life. It felt like she smiled at me.’

Yet he believes it is better to kill rogue animals than keep them behind bars. ‘Captivity is the most horrible thing you can do to a bear – they must be free or dead.’

An Englishman’s Home Is His Prison? Labour’s 1.5m homes will be dominated by private equity firms, charging huge rents

Labour’s 1.5m homes will be dominated by private equity firms charging huge rents

by James Wright  23 February 2025
https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2025/02/23/labour-build-to-rent/

The Labour Party’s pledge to build 1.5m new homes over this parliament risks being dominated by private equity in the Build to Rent sector, Common Wealth has warned in a new report.

Indeed, chancellor Rachel Reeves has tied herself to fiscal rules to embed the neoliberal market throughout government planning. In her budget, she pledged money for the Build to Rent sector in order to ‘crowd in’ private investment, rather than treating homes as necessary shelter provided publicly and mandated as affordable to all.

Private equity in real estate – The Build to Rent scandal

Build to Rent properties in the UK have increased to 20% of all new builds in recent years – and 27% in London, the thinktank states. Investors know that renting out essentials is a guaranteed way to make the most money.

That is, you get regular, passive income on resources people automatically need while retaining ownership of the ‘asset’ itself. Investors can then use the ‘product’ as collateral or eventually sell it.

At the same time, housing is a risk free investment for the government to make through public ownership, which can be organised on the basis of need and affordability.

Another way the current system is far from adequate is inherited wealth. Common Wealth notes that that in 2023 the majority of first time house buyers (57%) received financial assistance from their parents. The lottery of birthright should surely not prevail over the fact that housing is is a commonality.

Nonetheless, the thinktank further points out that between the onset of the financial crash in 2008 and 2023 the global real estate ‘assets’ under the management of “institutional investors” increased by around 450% from $385bn to $1.7trn.

Related: Would private equity building 1.5m UK homes bring down British house prices?

Rachel Reeves: making the situation even worse

In the UK, overseas investors believe the housing market system to be staying. In absolute terms, UK real estate was the largest housing market for foreign investment in the first quarter of 2024.

Private investors want to maximise their profits at every avenue. Common Wealth points out this is at odds with providing affordable and social housing. The thinktank notes that when asset managers Blackstone bought up and renovated homes in Stockholm, rents increased by a whopping 43%.

The report further shows that a “structural undersupply” of housing leads to year on year rent rises.

Instead of tackling the issue, Reeves seems intent on making the situation worse and diverting more resources away from public housing and towards private investment.