Papillon Europe’s Most Wanted Captured After 42 Days On The Run.
Papillon, Europe’s most wanted bear, has been captured after 42 days on the run. The brown bear, a master escapologist, is now back in its north Italian closure. Codenamed M49, the 149kg bear fled from the Casteller centre on 27 July after climbing over its enclosure. Which had been reinforced following previous escapes. M49 is the most wanted bear in Europe and considered an “escape genius”. Italian authorities compared the bear to Papillon. The eponymous character from Henri Charrière’s memoir about escaping from a French penal colony, which was released as a film in 1973.
An order for the bear’s capture was issued in June 2019 by the president of Trento province, Maurizio Fugatti. He declared that the animal was a risk to humans after it was seen close to inhabited areas. After being captured in 2019, Papillon broke free last July. Without a tracking collar on him, he spent the next nine months evading government agencies and forestry teams despite intensive efforts to catch him.
The bear was recaptured this April, according to a spokesman for the region’s local government. But only hours later, it escaped again from the fenced area, which it shared with a second, female bear. After its recapture, its enclosure was reinforced. He was fitted with a radio collar to monitor its movements in case of another escape. It was all in vain, as Papillon, who has become a symbol of freedom and a champion of the force of nature over humans, managed to escape again on 27 July. Moreover removing its collar, making its capture even more difficult.
According to the WWF, M49 is not dangerous at all, in so far as it has not shown aggression toward humans. “Papillon is an animal which in the past has only caused damage to infrastructure at the zoo. And for this reason it needs to be monitored, not locked up.”
Papillon’s capture comes after a young male bear attacked a police officer in northern Italy last August. Pouncing on him and knocking him to the ground in what witnesses described as an unprovoked attack. The incident has rekindled the debate on the presence of these animals in the region, which many consider too numerous. After their population dwindled to just four in Trentino, Alpine brown bears were reintroduced to the area in 2000. The population currently stands at about 90.
