A female brown bear, who killed a jogger in the Italian Alps in 2023, has arrived in Germany and rested in the shelter she wants to stay.
The bear, known as JJ4 or Gaia, has been transferred into the high safety shell of alternative wolf and bear parks in the German Black Forest in the southwestern part of the country.
Accompanied by a team in the park, Gaia arrived in Germany at 6 a.m. (0400 GMT). Staff said her journey from Italy was going well. “She was taken care of, ate and acted calmly.”
Staff said she was initially placed in a box that was transported in and would stay in the morning to explore the area she was going to live in.
The bear attacked and killed joggers on a popular mountain trail in Trentino-Alto Adige in northern Italy in April 2023.
The animal was captured and taken to a fence near the city of Trento. Regional President Maurizio Fugatti ordered Gaia to be killed, but the court stopped the decree after animal rights activists petitioned.
Gaia is scheduled to move to Germany in 2024, but has suffered a huge setback due to the lush terrain of mountainous areas through donations-funded €1 million ($1.1 million) of fences.
Gaia’s mother Jurka has been housed in animal reserves since 2010.
Gaia will also be renamed because the name of the wolf in the sanctuary is the same.
The date of her transfer from Italy was initially preserved due to concerns about protests.
