Grin and Bear It? No Way, Germans Say

VIENNA — He is wanted in Germany on charges of breaking into a chicken coop, killing sheep and -- surprise -- stealing honey.

On top of that, he's an auslander\o7.\f7

Blurry mug shots of his dark face plaster towns in southern Bavaria such as Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

The culprit, a young brown bear who entered from Austria, probably in search of a mate, is the subject of a rare cultural tiff between the two German-speaking neighbors.

For several days, newspapers in Bavaria and Austria's westernmost province have been at war over the bear, which some have named Bruno and others Petzi, after one in a children's book series.

Bavarian authorities have given farmers, who are irate about the pillaging of their sheep, permission to shoot the bear on sight. Austrians were horrified, especially those in the westernmost province of Vorarlberg, from where the miscreant is believed to have crossed the border.

"Bavarians Want to Shoot Our Vorarlbaer," blared the headline in the Neue Vorarlberger Tageszeitung, punning on the province's name to show they had adopted the bear as their own, even though he probably spent no more than a week there. Experts believe he lopes more than 12 miles a day and started his journey in Italy's Trentino Alps.

Emotions aside, the dispute is over whether the bear must be shot to stop him from harming humans, or could instead be relocated. Some Austrians do support shooting the bear, but most are uncomfortable with the idea.

People in the two countries appear to be making increasingly wild assertions. Some Austrians are claiming the bear is under the protection of Pope Benedict XVI, who, they say, recently has added a bear to his crest. Germans contend that the bear is "out of control."

Bavarian Environment Minister Werner Schnappauf initially declared that the bear was welcome in the province but changed his mind after consulting experts. He said Monday that the animal might have to be killed or at least caged for good.

"The bear has turned into a problem bear," Schnappauf told reporters. "The animal has to be taken out of circulation."

In the mid-19th century, voracious hunting by the nobility and an effort to protect livestock wiped out bear populations in both countries.

When the last bear was killed in Austria in 1842, the event was celebrated by townspeople who felt "relieved of a plague," said researchers for the World Wide Fund for Nature in Austria.