Italians cheer on wild bear’s ‘Great Escape’

The M49 bear got away from its electrified holding pen. Italians cheer on wild bear's 'Great Escape.'

Italians cheer on wild bear’s ‘Great Escape’

From New Strait Times – AFP

Italian animal lovers cheered on a wild bear Monday after a daring escape from an electrified holding pen sparked a bear-hunt and a furore over its fate.

The three-year old, known only as M49, was captured Sunday in the Val Rendena valley in the Trentino region in northern Italy after it was spotted several times approaching inhabited areas.

But in a getaway compared by Italian media to Steve McQueen’s exploits in the 1963 WWII film “The Great Escape“, M49 went on the lam Saturday after scaling a four-metre (13-foot) high and 7,000 volt electric fence.

Italians cheer on wild bear's 'Great Escape'
Italians cheer on wild bear’s ‘Great Escape’

“Run bear, run!” said one user on Twitter as the #fugaperlaliberta (#escapeforfreedom) hashtag went viral.

Others appealed to Matteo Salvini with the #salvinisalvalorso (#salvinisavethebear) hashtag – perhaps hoping the interior minister would extend his recent interest in the welfare of stray dogs and cats to bears.

Three teams from the state forestry corps were set on its trail, with sniffer dogs.

The search was complicated by the fact that the bear’s tracking collar was apparently removed after its capture.

Continue reading “Italians cheer on wild bear’s ‘Great Escape’”

A couple of lifts were sabotaged in Passo Rolle.

Ski map of Passo Rolle and San Martino di Castrozza. The Ferrari Chairlift has been reopened in record time at Passo Rolle, after being sabotaged.

A couple of lifts were sabotaged on Passo Rolle on the night of November 30th, between Friday and Saturday, on the eve of the opening of the season.

The first lift that the operators realised has been sabotaged during a test drive, was the Ferrari lift. The lift has to remain closed for opening day. One of the six trefoil, cables that make up the rope, has been cut. Checks were also taking place on the Paradiso lift, next to the Ferrari lift.

This has been a ‘considerable damage, changing the rope of that type costs hundreds of thousands of Euros’ said the President of the Engineering company Giacobbe Zortea, ‘but we will not die, we will guarantee the safety of the facilities for tourists and operators of the Passo (Rolle)’.

A couple of lifts were sabotaged in Passo Rolle.
A couple of lifts were sabotaged in Passo Rolle.

It is ‘fair’, he concluded, that these people pay for an ‘irresponsible gesture’.
Complaints were immediately raised to the Carabinieri of Primiero, which together with the colleagues of the Compagnia di Cavalese, have arrived at the site for an inspection. They were assessing the site soonafter, investigating the damage done.

Continue reading “A couple of lifts were sabotaged in Passo Rolle.”