«Free», story of the Marsican bear saved by a steel noose around its neck. «Very serious act of poaching»

Stayed weeks with a steel noose around his neckrisked dying slowly from suffocation or from injuries sustained in an attempt to free himself. Now “Free” – the name given to him by the operators of the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park – has returned to nature. The specimen of Marsican bear, a male with an estimated age between 10 and 12 years and weighing 193 kilogramswas blocked on the night of April 24th in the municipality of Civitella Roveto (L’Aquila): the animal spontaneously entered the ‘tube trap’ – a structure designed to allow the controlled capture of wild animals without further trauma – making it possible the subsequent removal of the lace. «Knowing that there are still people who use these tools must make us reflect and tremble. As well as that they are ready to spread poison to make a massacre. In such a difficult moment, having to return once again to talking about poaching is painful and deeply dramatic“, we read in a note from the Park which denounces “the cowardly hand of those who continue to attack wildlife”. In a moment marked by «brutal massacre of wolves, having to once again talk about poaching tools is painful, irritating and deeply dramatic”, continues the text.

Already in 2017, in the territory of the municipality of Campoli Apennines (Frosinone), a similar operation had led to liberation of F20, nicknamed «Monachella»an 80 kilogram female, presumed to be over 12 years old. In November 2016 the camera traps of the association Let’s save the Bear they had immortalized with a noose around their neck and so two capture sites were set up in the area to attempt a rescue. The cable around his neck was one of those typically used by poachers, positioned at crossing points of the wildlife. Probably the bear, when she remained imprisoned, had managed to break the anchorage of the cable which, however, remained attached to her neck and had began to cut into the tissues, causing a deep wound that, in the long term, would have killed her.