The tragic death of a young man after an attack by a bear in Trentino shows once again for South Tyrolean Member of the European Parliament Herbert Dorfmann that there is a need for regulation of the bear and wolf population. "Management plans must be drawn up immediately now," Dorfmann said, "for bears from South Tyrol and Trentino, while an Alpine-wide plan is needed for wolves." The EU Commission has signaled its willingness to approve such management plans, he said. "The ball is in our court, because if we wait for the ministries in Rome, we will be waiting for a very long time," the European parliamentarian said.

For Dorfmann, the deadly bear attack is proof that bears in Trentino and in the border area with South Tyrol had exceeded a critical quantity. "Anyone who denies this is turning a blind eye to the massive increase in incidents involving humans," the EU parliamentarian said. "That one of them would end fatally was unfortunately predictable," Dorfmann said, "and it is just as predictable that it will not be the last attack."

According to the motto "better late than never," an immediate and permanent solution to the problem is now needed in the form of a management plan for the bear population in South Tyrol and Trentino. "This plan could be drawn up jointly by the two countries, approved in Rome and then made sure that it is approved in Brussels," explains Herbert Dorfmann. He adds that the same applies to the management of the wolf population. "The only difference is that we have a stable population of bears in Trentino and South Tyrol, while there is no such thing for wolves. They are much too mobile," the European parliamentarian said. For the wolf population, a management plan for a small area is therefore pointless, he said. "However, a management plan for the Alpine population in Italy would make sense. This requires the cooperation of all regions in the Alpine arc - from Piedmont to Friuli-Venezia Giulia," Dorfmann said.

The initiative of the two regions South Tyrol and Trentino in the matter of bear management and a cooperation of the Alpine regions for that of the wolves is a way to circumvent the lethargy of the Italian ministries, explains the EU parliamentarian. He also points out that the president of the EU Commission Ursula von der Leyen had recently stressed to him to be flexible in approving management plans. "If we take action now, it would be a litmus test and we will do everything we can to ensure that the Commission President is taken at her word and that the plans are approved promptly," Dorfmann said.

He added that the management plans he is now urgently calling for are also the only way to keep the large carnivore population in check in a legally secure manner. "Otherwise, we must continue to fear before each individual removal that it will be stopped by the jurisdiction," explains the EU parliamentarian. This, he says, was precisely the case with the bear now responsible for the death of the young man in Trentino. "It was the courts that prevented this problem bear from being taken in time," Dorfmann said.