Predatory Wildlife and the Killing of a Female Bear with Three Cubs in Vinschgau

Miscellany.

Schlanders, 16 June. For nearly five years now, beasts of prey of various kinds—especially bearded vultures on the sun-facing side, and wolves and bears on the shaded side of the Adige valley in Vinschgau, particularly within the jurisdiction of the Imperial-Royal District Court of Schlanders—had increased significantly, causing very considerable damage to young livestock on the mountain and alpine pastures. Although several large vultures were captured annually, three wolves shot, and a young bear slain in the valley of Martell, manifold efforts to restrict the latter two animal species had hitherto met with no success. Fortunately, on 12 June of this year, Johann Plattner, a hunter from Martell, happened to spot a female bear slowly making her way up the mountain accompanied by three playfully romping cubs, while he was stalking a chamois he had wounded near the glacier in the Laserthal. Entirely alone, he was nonetheless courageous enough to kill the adult bear with a single shot; he subsequently succeeded in doing the same with the cubs, two of which, after the fall of the first, snuffled and licked at it until he gained time to reload his rifle, which he also managed with the last one, as it began to wail over the loss and did not stir from the spot. Two of the cubs were female and one male; the age of the large female bear was estimated at at least ten years, and that of the cubs at four and a half months.