Italian sausage maker who shot dead bear given police protection

EXCLUSIVE: Italian sausage maker who shot dead adorable mother bear that had charmed locals is given police protection following multiple death threats

• The tagged bear, named Amarena, was caught on camera by holidaymakers
• Andrea Leombruni, 56, shot the bear after she tried to get into his chicken coop 

An Italian sausage maker who shot dead a bear seen just hours earlier in an adorable video with her two cubs has been given police protection after receiving multiple death threats.

Andrea Leombruni, 56, blasted Amarena with a shotgun after he caught her trying to get into his chicken coop.

Vets called to the scene battled to save her life but were unable to do so and a team of forestry workers is still hunting for her two missing cubs following the shooting last week.

Leombruni was held in the village of San Benedetti dei Marso, in the central Italian region of Abruzzo and is now under investigation over the killing but has also been given protection.

He has received hundreds of hate messages and death threats after furious animal lovers found his mobile number on his Facebook page advertising his sausage business.

Andrea Leombruni (pictured), 56, blasted Amarena with a shotgun after he caught her trying to get into his chicken coop

The bear – which was known and tagged and called Amarena – was caught on camera by dozens of tourists as she strolled through the centre of the village last week. Initially Amarena was seen first and then seconds later – to the sound of cooing from bystanders – her two cubs suddenly appeared and followed her across the road

Leombruni – who has now closed his Facebook page and his business page – said:’I haven’t slept, eaten or lived for the last three days as I continually getting death threats.

‘These people have even called my 85-year-old mother, and other members of my family. We are being pilloried.

READ MORE: Bear slaughter horror: Mother bear who charmed tourists as she wandered through Italian town with her cubs is found shot dead hours later, sparking outcry

‘We have a guard on the balcony of our home, where the shot was fired from and we have people just stopping and staring and shouting at us all day. I have a police escort as well.

‘You have no idea what I am going through. I made a mistake, and I realised that as soon as I pulled the trigger. It was me who called the police.

‘I was scared that night and it all happened in the little space in front of the chicken coop. I had just looked out to see what was happening and I saw this bear and I fired.

‘I actually shot towards the ground. I didn’t aim for the bear. There was only one round.’

His lawyer Berardino Terra said:’ I am seriously concerned about him. He is completely distraught over what happened, and he is really fearful for his life.’

If convicted of unlawful killing of an animal he could face a jail sentence of between four months and two years.

Meanwhile police are also investigating a mural which was painted in the village which showed a hunter with a death skull and a twisted shotgun barrel pointing to his face with the word ‘Justice’.

The bear – which was known and tagged and called Amarena – was caught on camera by dozens of tourists as she strolled through the centre of the village last week.

Vets called to the scene battled to save her life but were unable to do so and a team of forestry workers is still hunting for her two missing cubs following the shooting last week. Leombruni was held in the village of San Benedetti dei Marso, in the central Italian region of Abruzzo and is now under investigation over the killing but has also been given protection

Leombruni – who has now closed his Facebook page and his business page – said:’I haven’t slept, eaten or lived for the last three days as I continually getting death threats. These people have even called my 85-year-old mother, and other members of my family. We are being pilloried’

Meanwhile police are also investigating a mural which was painted in the village which showed a hunter with a death skull and a twisted shotgun barrel pointing to his face with the word ‘Justice’

Initially Amarena was seen first and then seconds later – to the sound of cooing from bystanders – her two cubs suddenly appeared and followed her across the road. 

The family then trotted down some stairs and away into the forest at San Benedetto dei Marsi in Italy’s central Abruzzo region which is home to dozens of brown bears.

Following the shooting Abruzzo region president Marco Marsilio said: ‘This is a very grave episode, against the whole community and it fills us with rage and pain because it is an incomprehensible gesture.

‘In all these years, the community both inside and outside the region’s parks have known how to live with and alongside the bears and not interfere with their behaviour.

‘Never has a bear in the Abruzzo region represented a danger to man, not even when they have wandered into built up areas I the past.

After they were spotted, the ursine family then trotted down some stairs and away into the forest at San Benedetto dei Marsi in Italy’s central Abruzzo region, which is home to dozens of brown bears

After a bear sighting earlier this year, officials captured a bear in a specially constructed bear trap (pictured) in northern Italy after it killed a jogger

‘This act of aggression has no justification. We put our trust in the investigation that has been started by the police, and who have already identified the person responsible and will now face justice.’

Officials said a task force of 100 forestry workers was now combing the nearby regional park using drones to locate the two missing cubs.

READ MORE: Killer bear that disembowelled a trail runner in Italy is captured and set to be euthanised, despite having three cubs

Amarena was one of around 60 Marsican brown bears in the region and an adult can reach a weight of up to 210 kg and 180cm in length while female bears are smaller. 

Earlier this year in another incident, a bear in the northern Italian region of Trento was captured after it attacked and killed a jogger.

A court initially ruled that the bear should be put down, but this has now been overturned.

Elsewhere in Italy, police have launched an investigation after video footage was posted online of a group of youths kicking a goat to death on a holiday farm at Anagni near Rome.

If found guilty of animal cruelty they face up to 18 months jail and a maximum fine of £15,413.

In a statement on its Facebook page, alongside a graphic picture of the dead bear, the National Park of Abruzzo wrote: ‘The Park veterinarian intervened on the scene with the emergency response team, who could however only determine the bear’s death given the severity of the injury.

‘The man was identified by Park staff and taken by the Carabinieri of the local station, who intervened following their call.

‘The dynamics of the incident are underway and will continue as park staff are engaged in identifying the two bear cubs to evaluate what to do.

‘The episode is a very serious incident that causes enormous damage to the population that counts about sixty and involves one of the most prolific females in the history of the Park.

‘Obviously, there is no reason to justify the incident since Amarena, despite causing damage to agricultural and zootechnical activities, always and in any case compensated by the Park has never created any kind of problem for humans.’

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