Hiking in the Swiss Alps? What about the bears?

Correction: M13 was caught on a playground in 2012.

This is the museum with M13.
https://www.graubuenden.ch/en/explore-regions/valposchiavo/museo-poschiavino

This the the museum with Switzerlands last bear.
https://www.schmelzra.ch

You know how when you visit a country for the very 1st time you tend to look a few things up see what that place is all about. One of those things that I like to look up is is there anything in this country that is going to eat me. Lights cannibals or lions Tigers and bears. Lions Tigers and bears. To Lauer and I had just started dating and I came to Switzerland for the very 1st time. And before I came I was doing a little bit of researching and I was researching bears. Are there bears in Switzerland and are they going to eat me. And this is how I ran into the story of M13 Switzerland's last bear. So this weekend Lauer and I decided to make a trip down to M13 home in Southern Switzerland. Historically the Brown bear has made its home in the Alps but as you can imagine a large bear-like this with big claws and big teeth Pose a lot of danger to humans so that the Brown bear has been hunted pretty much throughout history. And then with the invention of modern guns it became much easier to shoot a bear. So the bear population in Switzerland has continued to drop and then in 2012 there is only one bare living in Switzerland. And that of course was M13. M13 lived in this Swiss Valley and was quite well-loved by the Swiss population. However a start to become a little bit of a problem you see M13 is a wild bear and he is supposed to live in the woods But then he started to wander into more populated areas he broke into several houses and started to follow people. Different bear deterrent measures were used and nothing seemed to work. The hope was that in 2012 when you went in to hibernation he would forget some of his badd ways But then when he woke up in 2013 he was worse than ever. He was caught on a school playground Fears arose and it just seemed inevitable that at some point there was going to be interaction with a human and it was not going to be good. So the decision was made and M13 was shot. And end they stuffed him and they put him in this museum right behind me so to day we are going to pay him a visit. You know I've known about m13 for quite a while now and you might say I'm a bit of a fan. But then going into that museum and seeing him sitting there even though that display was really pretty and really well done Seeing him sitting there all stuffed and whatever was just a little bit sad. But you know M13 wasn't Switzerland's last bear he wasn't even a Swiss bear. He was in Italian bear. In fact, the M13 is a Code Italy gives to its bears. He was pardoned of an Italian program to reintroduce bears into Italy. He just happened to walk across the border and start living in Switzerland. We're gonna build the wall we have no choice. So if M13 wasn't Switzerland's last bear does Switzerland have a lass bear. So as it turns out the Swiss bear population has slowly been whittled down until there were just a few bears left and what is now the Swiss National Park. So we came up to the Swiss National Park to find Switzerland's last bear. This is my 1st time going to Swiss National Park and it's pretty amazing I mean most of Switzerland has cable cars and gondolas going up every mountain. But this place feels so much more remote Just back in this Valley its woods and mountains And a dirt road it's really quite cool. And it's because this place is so remote the last of the bears were able to hide out here. I mean going back a couple of 100 years hunting bears was a pretty impressive if you could bag a bear and you are really something else. So slowly the bears were hunted to extinction and tell there was one bear left and he was shot on this mountain right behind me. And then of course they stuffed him and they put him in this museum right behind me. You know I'm kind of noticing a trend here. So back to the original question are there any bears in Switzerland. Well yes and no. No there are no bears that live in Switzerland but yes there are actually quite a few bears they come and visit Switzerland for a very short time and then Leave. So it is possible that you could run into her barren Switzerland but it is pretty unlikely.