Since its inception, the PNALM has dealt with the management of the fauna present within its territory, with particular attention to some of the symbolic species that inhabit it, such as the wolf, the Apennine chamois or the Marsican brown bear, a unique subspecies to the world that today lives only in the territory of the park and in the neighboring areas, with some male specimens that occasionally go elsewhere, moving across the mountainous ridge that develops from north to south in our country.
To date, fewer than 60 bears remain alive, thus exposing the conservation of this species, which today is threatened from many points of view, to an uncertain future.
In the name of safeguarding, over the years there are many challenges that the Abruzzo park has had to face, linked both to the social sphere and to that of conservation, and among these, that of bears who are confident or accustomed to food of human origin seems be the most complex one.
Among these, the story of Juan Carrito, male bear of about two years, son of the bear Amarena which in the last period has become the protagonist of several episodes against him: close encounters with man, stable presence in the countries, feeding on waste and even forays into pastry shops.
Managing a bear under these conditions is certainly a complex affair and as an association we believe the PNALM has within it highly specialized professionals to find the most suitable management choices to face these innumerable problems.
In recent months many have supported or criticized (often nonsense on social networks) these management choices but as an association we believe that the best thing to do is to fully support the choices made by the PNALM and by the professionals who work there, approving their work in a difficult context and with infinite variables, typical in the management of a "social" animal such as the brown bear.
The topic we want to focus on instead is the way in which the park has communicated this story to the general public since the beginning of history.
In general it should be emphasized that recently on many issues the park has started an excellent communication, using social networks and the web in general with great professionalism, but that of the bear remains today the flagship.
From the very beginning the communication on Juan Carrito and on its "raids" it was led by transparency, something that unfortunately in our country, when it comes to large carnivores, is really latent.
Too often we do not know anything about management choices involving wolves, bears and other species, or we are forced to learn complex decisions from concise press releases without any detail.
The storytelling built in recent months by the park towards JC is of a completely different spirit, offering everyone, enthusiasts and ordinary citizens, a clear cross-section of what was happening, of the problems encountered and of the choices, sometimes even difficult ones, is chosen to take.
Yet it must be said that the Park's approach should not make news, but be the norm and that we shouldn't bother to tell it as something exceptional.
yet, many institutions that today work on large carnivores, should learn from what the Abruzzo Park is doing, in telling its work day after day, but above all in understanding how this is a fundamental ingredient to make everyone understand those who can be the difficulties encountered and how to solve them: to name one, that of waste management in countries and the impact on bears, a problem that lapses from the competence of the park and which instead should be the responsibility of the municipalities that have the duty to manage the issue in correct way and to educate their inhabitants in the best way to deal with it.
On the other hand, there are not many municipalities that have the characteristic of hosting a unique bear subspecies in the world, which is why certain interventions on waste should be a priority.
We also believe it is important to underline how the feeling that within each of us awaken these great animals, for better or for worse, is the best ingredient to tell about them and to create a knowledge base useful for living with them.
It is the duty of every institution or association to understand how it is necessary to tell everyone about the life, events and problems of these great predators.
The story of Juan Carrito is just an example, and from our point of view the park is doing other great things, such as deciding to support the magnificent project "The bear and the ant"Which we should definitely talk about more (go and visit it) or to involve the association in the management of the problems Let's save the bear which for years has been working alongside many to ensure a better future for the Marsican bear.
In conclusion, to date we do not know what future awaits Juan Carrito, and from our point of view it seems really complex to imagine an epilogue that sees him living in the woods, in the typical isolation of his species, without too much interference in our world, yet, thanks to the work of the park, we too want to believe in it and hope that, as happened in other cases, the bear takes its path in a definitive way.
Conversely, even in the worst of epilogues, which include the possibility of being shot down or locked up for life in a fence, we know that the Abruzzo Park has not only tried it all to bring the bear back on the "right path", but has made participants, day after day, to fully understand everything we have chosen to do: on the one hand by informing us, on the other by trying to make ourselves responsible to make us understand how the history of Juan Carrito belongs to us.
Our management choices, ours the faults if a wild animal with a strong symbolic value like the brown bear decides to leave its hemisphere to unreasonably approach that of man.
Featured photo by Valentino Mastrella - PNALM Archive