Awful news, our beautiful, endangered Marsican bear Juan Carrito has been hit by a car and killed just outside Castel del Sangro by the crematorium on the SS17.
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If only fences were in place on the SS17 to ensure safer crossing points for the animals. The bear charity Salviamo l’Orso had requested funds for one. They had got halfway in making one, but they needed to reach another €30k in order to get their main private donor to match it to be able to complete the final phase… if only the Regione had stepped in and offered to pay to galvanise this campaign and create more in high traffic areas.
A Mother bear was run over in 2019 on Christmas Eve while crossing a stretch of high-traffic, unprotected road on the Strada Statale 17 that sits between the boundaries of the two national parks with her cub. The cub came back many times to the crash site looking for his mother. This incident made the bear charity, Salviamo l’Orso sad and angry, we should never be indifferent to such a dramatic event within a known hostile environment that the bears attempt to use as a corridor. Staff from 2 protected national parks, Parco Nazionale d’Abruzzo, Lazio e Molise staff and Parco Nazionale della Maiella – who monitor the bears agreed that this puts their safety at risk.
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If only Juan Carrito had been hibernating away from the recent snow, if only a ready feast wasn’t made readily available in unbear-friendly garbage cans despite repeated requests for lockable bear-friendly ones to be installed by charities and foundations that work so hard to protect Abruzzo’s wildlife. Abruzzo and its local comuni do extremely well from having the Marsican bears live within the region, they are worth 9 million euros in advertising alone to Abruzzo a recent EU study found, but still, a greedy ‘Regione’ and comuni will not invest in keeping our wildlife safe from their co-existence with humans.
Please donate NOW to fund the fence to protect our precious bears and other wildlife from this busy road. No more ifs, no more crocodile tears!
Author: Sam Dunham
Sam is a very lucky midlife 'mamma' to A who is 12 and juggles her work as a self-employed freelance SEO food and travel copywriter and EFL teacher - she is the founder of English in the Woods. She is the founder of the Life In Abruzzo community and co-founder of Let's Blog Abruzzo.