The bear is dead

last updated 8 January 2015

Zell, Germany

Bavarian hunters this week killed a marauding brown bear—the first one spotted in Germany since 1838. The animal, popularly dubbed Bruno, wandered into the German Alps along the Austrian border in May from a nature reserve in northern Italy. The 2-year-old eluded authorities and a team of Finnish hunting dogs for weeks, killing dozens of sheep and looting beehives for honey. The bear’s death angered activists who tried to save it. Heike Finke of Germany’s Wildlife Alliance said Bruno’s demise would make it harder for her to lobby other nations to protect endangered elephants, tigers, and other animals. “I haven’t got much credibility as a German,” Finke said, “when we kill our only bear.”