Bear JJ1 was a brown bear

Brown Bear

The brown bear is a large bear distributed across much of northern Eurasia and North America. It can weigh from and its largest subspecies, the Kodiak Bear, rivals the polar bear as the largest member of the bear family and as the largest land-based predator.There are several recognized...

 whose travels and exploits in Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

 and Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 in the first half of 2006 drew international attention. JJ1, also known as Bruno in the German press (some newspapers also gave the bear different names, such as Beppo or Petzi), is believed to have been the first brown bear on German soil in 170 years.

Previously, the last sighting of a bear in what is now Germany was recorded in 1838 when hunters shot a bear in Bavaria

Bavaria

Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

. Initially heralded as a welcome visitor and a symbol of the success of endangered species

Endangered species

An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...

 reintroduction programs, his dietary preferences for sheep, chicken

Chicken

The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...

s, and beehive

Beehive

A beehive is a structure in which bees live and raise their young.Beehive may also refer to:Buildings and locations:* Bee Hive, Alabama, a neighborhood in Alabama* Beehive , a wing of the New Zealand Parliament Buildings...

s led government officials to believe that he could become a threat to humans, and they ordered that he be shot or captured.
Public objection to the destruction order resulted in its revision, and the German government tried to use non-lethal means to sedate and capture the bear.

JJ1 was described as bloodthirsty, clever, and fast. Bavarian prime minister Edmund Stoiber

Edmund Stoiber

Edmund Rüdiger Stoiber is a German politician, former minister-president of the state of Bavaria and former chairman of the Christian Social Union...

 referred to him as a Problembär ("problem bear"). Farmers claimed the bear "enjoyed killing," because he typically killed sheep without eating them

Surplus killing

Surplus killing is the behavior predators exhibit when they kill more prey than they can immediately use. They may partially consume, cache, or abandon intact prey...

. This behavior, common among predators, was construed as being caused by interaction with people.

As of 21 June 2006, his kills included 33 sheep, four domestic rabbit

Rabbit

Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...

s, one guinea pig

Guinea pig

The guinea pig , also called the cavy, is a species of rodent belonging to the family Caviidae and the genus Cavia. Despite their common name, these animals are not in the pig family, nor are they from Guinea...

, as well as some hens and goats. Further concern was expressed due to the proximity of the bear's preferred prey to humans.

Purportedly, several attempts were made to catch Bruno alive, assisted by a team of Finnish bear hunters using five dogs (which were described in the press as either Karelian Bear Dog

Karelian Bear Dog

The Karelian Bear Dog is a Finnish or Karelian breed of dog. In its home country, it is regarded as a national treasure. KBD will hunt any kind of animal. Its quick reflexes and fearless nature have made it very popular for hunting aggressive game, including bear, moose, and wild boar...

s or Elkhound

Norwegian Elkhound

The Norwegian Elkhound is one of the ancient Northern Spitz-type breed of dog and is the National Dog of Norway. The Elkhound has served as a hunter, guardian, herder, and defender. In a land of subzero temperatures, deep snow, thick forests, and rugged mountains, only the hardiest of the breeds...

s). The attempts failed, and JJ1 was shot at Rotwand

Rotwand (Bavaria)

The Rotwand is a 1,884 m high peak in the Mangfall Mountains in Bavaria, the highest summit in the Spitzingsee region and one of the most popular of Munich's local mountains ....

 mountain (see Miesbach (district)

Miesbach (district)

Miesbach is a district in Bavaria, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen, Munich and Rosenheim, and by the Austrian state of Tyrol.-History:...

) near Lake Spitzingsee in southern Bavaria in the early morning of 26 June.
The satirical magazine Private Eye

Private Eye

Private Eye is a fortnightly British satirical and current affairs magazine, edited by Ian Hislop.Since its first publication in 1961, Private Eye has been a prominent critic and lampooner of public figures and entities that it deemed guilty of any of the sins of incompetence, inefficiency,...

reported in early July that Bruno was part of an EU-funded €1 million conservation

Conservation movement

The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental and a social movement that seeks to protect natural resources including animal, fungus and plant species as well as their habitat for the future....

 project in Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. A spokesman said that there had been "co-ordination" between Italy, Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

 and Slovenia

Slovenia

Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

 to ensure the bear's welfare but apparently Germany had not been informed.

The Life Ursus reintroduction project of the Italian province of Trento had introduced 10 Slovenian bears in the region monitoring them. JJ1 was the first son of Jurka and Joze (thus the name JJ1), JJ3 the younger brother also showed an aggressive character and wandered in Switzerland in 2008 and was killed there. Because of this second problem the mother Jurka was put in captivity in Italy among protests of the environmentalists, authorities of the park maintained that 50% of the incidents involving bears had been caused by Jurka or her descendant.
Bruno has become a subject of diplomatic strife. The Italian government in Rome has declared Bruno state property of Italy, and is demanding his return. The Bavarian government where Bruno was shot dead refused, claiming a carcass on German land is theirs to keep. JJ1 has been stuffed, and is currently on display at the Museum of Man and Nature

Museum of Man and Nature

The Museum Mensch und Natur is a German natural history museum. It is occupies part the Nymphenburg Palace in Munich, Bavaria.- Bear exhibit :...

 in Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

.

External links

• Bavaria's Wild Bear Summer SPIEGEL ONLINE Photo Gallery