A female brown bear who killed a jogger in the Italian Alps in 2023 has reached Germany and is resting in the sanctuary where she is due to stay.
The bear, known as JJ4 or Gaia, has been transferred to a high-security enclosure at the Alternative Wolf and Bear Park in Germany’s Black Forest in the south-west of the country.
Accompanied by a team from the park, Gaia reached Germany at 6 am (0400 GMT). Her journey from Italy went well, staff said. “She is being cared for, has eaten and is behaving calmly.”
She initially rested in the box she was transported in and is to spend several more hours there before leaving to explore the area where she is due to live, on the advice of a veterinarian, a park spokeswoman said.
Gaia was sedated before her journey from Italy in order for her to be lifted into the box, but the group only departed once she had regained consciousness.
Later in the morning, the park aims to try and release the bear into a preliminary enclosure on the grounds. Depending on her emotional state, the team plans to let Gaia into the large high-security enclosure itself later in the day.
The bear attacked and killed a jogger on a popular mountain path in the northern Italian region of Trentino-Alto Adige in April 2023.
The animal was captured and taken to an enclosure near the city of Trento. Regional president Maurizio Fugatti ordered Gaia to be killed, but courts stopped the decree after petitions by animal rights activists.
Gaia was set to be transferred to Germany in 2024, but construction of the €1 million ($1.1 million) enclosure, funded through donations, faced significant setbacks due to heavy rainfall in the mountainous, wooded terrain.
The date of her transfer from Italy was initially kept secret amid fears of protests.
Jurka, Gaia’s mother, has been housed at the animal sanctuary since 2010.
Gaia is also due to be renamed, as a wolf at the sanctuary has the same name. “We don’t want to exhibit her as a ‘killer bear’,” the spokeswoman said.
The space where the bear is to live is shielded from the public and has an electric fence, camera surveillance and anti-digging protection to prevent her from escaping.