A bear has been captured in the Italian Alps not far from where it killed a 26-year-old jogger. Italians were shocked by Andrea Papi’s death in early April in the north-eastern region of Trentino-Alto Adige. Once the bear was identified as a 17-year-old known as JJ4, authorities issued an order for it to be put down. But the order for the she-bear to be shot on sight was later put on hold and JJ4 has been taken to a wildlife centre. Her fate is yet to be decided. “We would have liked to kill the bear on the spot,” provincial governor Maurizio Fugatti told a press conference, adding it would eventually be put down if a court agreed at a hearing next month. Andrea Papi was fatally attacked while jogging above the town of Caldes on the slopes of Mt Peller in the Brenta Dolomites, prompting fear and anger in the region. He is the first Italian known to have been killed by a bear in recent years. The animals are a protected species in Italy, and their population has been increasing in recent years after they were reintroduced to the region two decades ago. JJ4’s own parents had been brought into northern Italy from Slovenia under the “Life Ursus” European conservation project. It had already attacked and injured a father and son while they were hiking on Mount Peller in 2020. It was captured in a tube-style bear trap filled with fruit, after forest rangers with dogs tracked her foot-prints in snow. The captured bear was sedated and taken to the Casteller animal care centre near the city of Trento where another bear known as M49 is also being looked after.(BBC)…[+]