Italian officials detained the wrong bear for killing a jogger in the woods, says animal rights group

• A bear suspected of mauling a jogger in Italy is actually innocent, says an animal rights group.
• Forensics show the jogger's wounds were inflicted by the canines of another bear, non-profit Leal said.

Italian officials have nabbed the wrong bear in connection with the killing of a jogger, an animal rights group said on Monday.

The 17-year-old bear, known as JJ4, was captured by local authorities after the death of Andrea Papi, a 26-year-old man who was out for a mountainside run in the region of Trentino-Alto Adige.

Papi was mauled during his jog on April 5. He is the first Italian known to be killed by a bear in modern times, the BBC reported.

But the bear responsible couldn't have been JJ4, said animal rights non-profit Leal in a Facebook post titled "JJ4 IS INNOCENT."

The organization said veterinary DNA tests showed Papi's injuries were inflicted by the canines of a male bear. JJ4 is a female bear.

"The teeth of an animal, for forensic veterinary medicine, have the same value as human fingerprints," Leal wrote.

Leal demanded the resignation of Maurizio Fugatti, the president of Trentino province, who oversaw JJ4's capture.

Fugatti wanted to shoot the bear, but a court suspended his culling order amid resistance from animal rights groups. Italian Environment Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin has also called for JJ4 to be relocated instead of killed.

Papi's death and two other recent bear attacks have put Trentino on edge. JJ4 was already marked as a dangerous animal after she attacked a father and son in 2020.

But bears are a protected species in Italy. JJ4 was born under the Life Ursus project, which revived the bear population in Trentino by importing 10 of the animals from Slovenia.

Fugatti also called for JJ4 to be put down at the time, but like in April, faced opposition from animal rights groups.

Papi's mother, Franca Ghirardini, said in a letter released by her lawyers that she didn't support culling the bear that killed her son.

"Killing the bear won't give me Andrea back," she said, per Corriere del Trentino.

Fugatti's office did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment sent outside regular business hours.