Rare bear sighting in Swiss valley

GR: the bear returns to Valposchiavo Keystone-SDA

A photo-trap has snapped a bear in the Valposchiavo valley for first time in the southeast corner of Switzerland for several years.

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Following the recent reports of a bear in the Lower Engadin, between Ftan and the Ofen Pass, a specimen has now also appeared further south in the the woods between Le Prese and Miralago in canton Graubünden.

+ Brown bears making comeback in Switzerland

No-one has seen it with their own eyes, but the presence of the animal was confirmed on April 29 by a private photo-trap between Brusio and Poschiavo.

The information is posted on the website of the Canton Graubünden Office for Hunting and Fishing, which has a map on which sightings are reported.

The presence of a bear south of the Bernina had not been detected for several years. The last sighting was in spring 2020, when a specimen was filmed on a mobile phone in broad daylight in a hunting lodge in the Splüga area near the Bernina Pass.

From 2012 to 2013, the presence of the bear M13 had raised several problems in Valposchiavo. The bear had lost its shyness towards humans and had approached fallow fields and houses in search of food. On February 19, 2013, it was shot at Miralago.

Translated from Italian by AI/mga

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