According to the latest reports, his house was a narrow steel cage, so small it only allowed him to stand or turn around.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves himHe fled twice, in search of the freedom that had been denied him many times. The Papillon bear, also known as M49, was not hosted - so to speak - in a green area of 8 hectares or even in an enclosure of 0,8 hectares. According to the latest leaked reports, his house was a narrow steel cage, so small it only allowed him to stand up or roll over.
His story moved us and at times indignant. Awakened from hibernation in July 2019, the bear had started its race towards freedom but last April it was captured by the Trentino Forestry Corps in the mountains above Tione and was brought back to Casteller, south of Trento, in the structure from which he had fled in search of the coveted freedom.
The environment minister Sergio Costa also intervened in his defense, when it was hypothesized to shoot it down. But then the bear was neutered and stuffed with tranquilizers.
M49 'Papillon' bear was neutered, stuffed with tranquilizers and locked up forever in captivity
At the end of July, a new page in his life opens. Papillon again manages to escape from what was believed to be his enclosure photographed from above by the LAV but this is not the case at all, as revealed by the Oipa association, which had already shot a video with a drone from the top of the structure.
© LAV
However, the recent visit of the Third Council Commission confirmed the most feared suspicions: M49 had been kept in a cage, as can also be read in the Adige.
This was also revealed by Lucia Coppola, provincial councilor of the Greens and vice president of the Environment Commission of the Provincial Council, in her report to the visit, during which she was also prevented from taking photographs, as specified by Adige.
“It created me profound discomfort and great sadness to see there cage with mighty bars where M49 was locked up for three months. We were told that since the first time he escaped he had not done this acclimatization or pre-acclimatization path which, it is not known why, according to experts, he should tame the bear and gradually accustom him to the loss of freedom, proceed with this prison. in prison it would lead him to milder advice. A progressive insertion, according to them, lasted three months! As we well know, this was not the case because the bear, as soon as it was released in the Casteller, went to the corner of the fence of the first escape, passed three electrified fences and bent the electro-welded iron rods but which were not stuck in the underlying concrete. He did not climb over like the first time because smooth metal plates had been placed on the upper part of the fence ”, explained Coppola.
VISIT TO THE CASTELLER. THE POINT OF VIEW OF LUCIA COPPOLA - VICE PRESIDENT OF THE THIRD PERMANENT COMMISSION The visit ...
Posted by Lucia Coppola on Monday, August 17, 2020
According to the regional councilor, the enclosure is considered by Ispra to be of good quality and unique as regards the Alps.
“But obviously this is a purely human point of view. Even minimal notions of ethology and animal welfare, or just walking around it (it takes ten minutes) gives the certainty that a bear cannot live well in such a small space ".
A great suffering for the bear, a strong, intelligent and curious animal, able to walk hundreds of kilometers, climb and swim but in this case imprisoned and humiliated.
Come on Papillon, keep fighting for your freedom!
Sources of reference: L'Adige, Lucia Coppola / Facebook
READ also:
Papillon is free again! M49 managed to escape again: found a torn fence
The "Papillon" bear was neutered, stuffed with tranquilizers and locked up forever in captivity
Captured the M49 bear: Papillon's escape to freedom is over
