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.”
A park spokesman said she initially rested in the box she was transported in and was going to spend hours there before being advised by a veterinarian exploring the area where she was going to live.
Gaia was calmed before traveling from Italy in order to carry her into the box, but the group left once she regained consciousness.
Later in the morning, the park aims to try to release the bears into the local preliminary fence. Based on her emotional state, the team plans to get Gaia into the large high-security fence later that day.
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 faces huge setbacks due to heavy rains in the mountains through donations of 1 million euros ($1.1 million) of fences.
The date of her transfer from Italy was initially preserved due to concerns about protests.
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. “We don’t want to show her as a ‘killer bear’,” the spokeswoman said.
The space where the bear is to live is shielded and has electric fences, camera surveillance and drill bit protection to prevent her from escaping.
