"Each bear has an extremely individual character and its own life story," says He is coordinator of the Large Carnivores Division of the Autonomous Province of Trento, which monitors the bears from the rewilding project. "Having said that, in Europe, a few animals, maybe 3-5% of the bear population, are what's known as 'problematic'. It can mean they are bold, they go into villages, and get close to people, which can be dangerous. Or, like JJ4, they may be very protective of their cubs. These aren't necessarily abnormal behaviours, but they're behaviours that are not acceptable to humans," he says.
In European media there is a special name for such troublemakers: "problem bears" – "orsi problematici" in Italian, "Problembären" in German. It has become a catch-all term for bears who have caused alarm for very different reasons: bold ones, and ordinary ones reacting in defence. Differentiating between these types of "problem bear" is however crucial when it comes to preventing attacks, experts say.
