The prisoner
is in a cage measuring two by six metres, surrounded by three 7,000-volt
electric fences, a four-metre-high barrier, CCTV and a number of rangers. From
afar, the structure resembles a maximum-security prison or even the T rex
enclosure in Jurassic Park. The inmate is not, however, an oversized reptile or
a Sicilian mafia boss, but a bear. His code name is M49, AKA Papillon, and
until his capture last month, he was Europe’s most wanted wild animal, accused
of having slaughtered dozens of cows and sheep in the mountains of northern
Italy.
Remember reading this serial
in Kumudam – ‘butterfly’ by Ra Ki (Ra. Ki. Rangarajan) a famous Tamil novelist who
wrote under 10 pen names including: Mohini for historical novels, T. Duraisami
for family dramas, Surya for youthful romance, Krishnakumar for mysteries, K.
Malathi for postal-related stories .. .. this one was different crime story,
rather that of escape of a criminal from highly guarded prison.
Years later came to know
that the book was famous, it was an account
of a 14-year period in Papillon's life , beginning when he was wrongly
convicted of murder in France and sentenced to a life of hard labor at the
Bagne de Cayenne, the penal colony of Cayenne in French Guiana known as Devil's
Island. He eventually escaped from the colony and settled in Venezuela, where
he lived and prospered. Papillon (lit.
"butterfly") is an autobiographical novel written by Henri Charrière,
first published in France on 30 April 1969. Papillon is Charrière's nickname. The
novel details Papillon's purported incarceration and subsequent escape from the
French penal colony of French Guiana (in reality he had never visited the
island), and covers a 14-year period between 1931 and 1945.
Henri
Charrière (Steve McQueen), a safecracker nicknamed "Papillon" because
of the butterfly tattoo on his chest, is wrongly convicted of murdering a pimp.
In 1933 he is sentenced to life imprisonment within the penal system in French
Guiana. En route, he meets a fellow convict, Louis Dega (Dustin Hoffman), a
forger and embezzler who is convinced that his wife will secure his release.
Papillon offers to protect Dega if he will underwrite the former's escape once
they reach French Guiana. Enduring the horrors of life in a jungle labor camp,
the two eventually develop a friendship… .. that was the 1973 movie directed by Franklin J. Schaffner. The film starred Steve McQueen as Charrière
("Papillon") and Dustin Hoffman as Louis Dega. Because it was filmed
at remote locations, the film was quite expensive for the time ($12 million),
but it earned more than twice that in its first year of release. Papillon
was remade in 2017, this time directed
by Michael Noer.
Moving away from the
movie, to the present Papillon, weighing
149kg (23st), considered by the authorities to be an “escape genius”. He was
recaptured by Italian rangers on 7 Sept 20 having fled six weeks earlier from his
enclosure at the Casteller wildlife centre, south of the city of Trento. The
enclosure had previously been reinforced after Papillon had escaped three
times. Another escape would be a public embarrassment for the authorities,
which means that since 7 Sept, Papillon has been locked up, an official source
told the Guardian.
The story of
Papillon, who was eventually caught two weeks after another young male bear
attacked a police officer in Trento province, has rekindled the debate about
the reintroduction of brown bears into the region. Bears are at the centre of culture and
history in the Trentino-Alto Adige region. One of the area’s heavenly
protectors is Saint Romedius, a fourth-century hermit who is often depicted
with a bear by his side. Legend has it that the horse Romedius was riding while
en route to Trento to meet the bishop was mauled by a bear. The hermit tamed
the bear and rode “bearback” to his destination.
Intensive
hunting that began in the 17th century greatly reduced the number of brown
bears in Italy, as city governors paid hunters handsome sums to kill the
animals. By 1998, there were only four bears left wild in Trentino. With the
bears close to extinction, the Life Ursus project, which has European Union
funding, was launched to reintroduce bears into the region. “They brought into
Trentino nine bears from Slovenia – three males and six females,” says Osvaldo
Negra, a zoologist and World Wide Fund for Nature representative in Trento. “In
the early 2000s, the first cubs were born. Since then, the population slowly
but surely climbed until it reached 60 bears. In 2010, the Life Ursus project
was declared successfully concluded.”
Everything seemed to be on
track, but the reintroduction of the animals into the Adamello Brenta nature
park soon reignited the traditional battle between humans and bears. They
reached the limits of some villages and, given the lack of food in the
mountains, they began preying on livestock, which roam free in these valleys. Today, herders who lose their livestock are
reimbursed up to €1,200 (£1,087) per animal. But the conflict over the bears
continues. The Herders Association in
the province of Trento retorts “the
recompenses are fine, but up to a certain point. Our cows and sheep are not
just numbers. Each one has a name and a history. Everyone wants to defend the
bears, but why doesn’t anyone consider the helpless cows and sheep that are
mauled by these carnivores?”
When the attacks started
becoming more frequent, as the number of bears increased, special armed
“anti-bear” squads were formed to capture and, if necessary, shoot any bears
considered “potentially dangerous”. In 2012, a six-year-old bear code-named
JJ5, accused of having attacked numerous farm animals, died after being
sedated. Its stuffed remains are on display on the third floor of the city of
Trento’s science museum. In 2014, Danzia, a mother of two cubs, died from being
tranquillised after being caught for allegedly attempting to attack a man. In
2017, rangers killed KJ2, a female accused of attacking a man in the woods.
Other bears ended up behind fenced enclosures, while about 10 simply
disappeared.
The village of Carano in
the province of Trentino, where the Varesco family says Papillon killed four
cows in August. In 2018, Maurizio
Fugatti, a member of the far-right League party, was elected president of the
autonomous province of Trento, thanks in large part to support from herders. He
gave the order for rangers, if necessary, to shoot on sight bears deemed to be
a danger. Top of his list was the four-year-old M49 – the 49th male bear born
in Trentino – which had gained legendary status in the region. Claiming that he
was responsible for attacking dozens of farm animals, Fugatti ordered that he
be caught, and on the evening of 14 July 2019, the bear was taken into custody.
The day after his capture,
M49’s cage was empty. The bear had managed to climb over three electric fences
and a four-metre-high barrier before disappearing into the woods. Fugatti
granted permission for rangers to shoot the bear if it came close to inhabited
areas. “The fact that the bear managed to climb over an electric fence with
seven wires at 7,000 volts demonstrates that this specimen is dangerous and a
public safety problem,” Fugatti said at the time. The
great escape earned M49 the name Papillon, after the eponymous character
from Henri Charrière’s memoir. The animal was recaptured on 29 April this year,
but remained in captivity for only two months before escaping again. After
again being caught, its enclosure was reinforced, and the bear was fitted with
a radio collar to monitor its movements. It was all in vain, as Papillon, who
had already become a symbol of freedom and a champion of the force of nature
over humans, managed to escape once again on 27 July and remove his collar.
While on the run, Europe’s
most wanted bear crossed the Fiemme Valley, where the Varesco brothers’ cows
were grazing. The Varesco family have been herders for three generations. On
the night of 14 August this year, the fugitive bear allegedly killed four of
their cows. Papillon’s time on the run
came to an end last month. An official source at the Casteller centre, where
the animal is currently detained with two other bears, said Papillon now spends
his days in a cage, and that in the first weeks of detention, veterinarians
administered tranquillisers to calm him. Fugatti and the authorities in Trento
did not respond to requests for comment from the Guardian.
The Italian
environment minister, Sergio Costa, has since declared that the animal must be
returned to the wild. But on Facebook, Costa said the national government had
little authority over Papillon’s future, as the province of Trento’s autonomous
status granted it the right to decide the bear’s future. “Between
an M49 locked up his entire life and a dead M49, as a zoologist I prefer
euthanasia,” says Negra. “I consider it a more suitable solution for a wild
animal.” Even if Papillon is released in the coming days, animal rights
activists are poised for an ongoing legal battle against the authorities over
the region’s bears. “The bears must be kept free,” says Dorigatti. For the past
10 days she says she has been on hunger strike to protest Papillon’s
incarceration. “The Trentino region
secured funds from the European Union to reintroduce bears. And just as the
number of bears in this region has begun to stabilise, they want to eliminate
them because they believe there are too many,” says Dorigatti. “These woods
belong to the wolves, bears and deer,” she adds. “We humans are just guests.”
On the other side of the argument are the herders and shepherds who have lived in these valleys for generations and have no wish to share them with large predators. In the middle, there is Papillon, enclosed in a two by six-metre cage, and the question of whether the reintroduction of species in Europe can work. “The return of large predators to Italian forests, but also in central Europe, is an enormous challenge,” says Marco Galaverini, species and habitat conservation officer at WWF Italy. “We mustn’t forget that these species are very charismatic, and it takes a specific know-how to live alongside them so that the benefits of their re-introduction are shared by everyone, but above all to avoid unpleasant encounters with them. “For years, we have been working on a project with European partners in the Mediterranean called Life Arcprom, whose goal is to improve the coexistence between humans and bears in order to prevent the risk of close encounters and to avoid damage to herders. “In essence, a gunshot cannot resolve our coexistence with bears.”
What is your view !! ~ we may not have bears but shrinking elephant corridors are man made !!!
6.10.2020.
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