NEWS AND VIEWS – San Sebastiano Dei Marsi, Abruzzo, Italy: Yes, the killer of a village bear is receiving death threats. The man, Andrea Leombruni, is also receiving police protection after he opened fire with a shotgun on Thursday night when Amarena, and her two cubs entered the village. They frequently did this but she had never attacked a human. Amarena was one of 60 protected Marsican bears in this mountainous region of Italy near the Abruzo, Lazio and Molise National Park.
It seems that the bear frequently entered the village to be photographed by the villagers and was quite a celebrity. Leombruni admits he made a mistake. He said that he called the police. He met the bear at his chicken coop and shot her dead.
Her two cubs ran off, scared by the noise. The villagers are incensed and some have threatened to kill him. He says that “I am getting continuous death threats”. I would expect his business to close down. Personally, I would hope that it does close down because what he did was horrible.
The villagers had planned to demonstrate but they cancelled the event because they were frightened that the cubs might be run over by all the cars and traffic entering the village for the demonstration.
There are fears over the welfare of the cubs but they been sighted heading back into the nearby National Park mentioned above and the park’s director said that it appears that they are self-sufficient and able to survive on their own but they are being checked on.
The police are investigating and a local prosecutor has hired a ballistics expert to verify the salami seller’s account of the killing.
