All this summer, the people of Trento, in northern Italy, lived in fear of a notorious fugitive.

So menacing was this runaway, who goes by the nickname "Papillon", that the local authorities sent out an order to shoot him on sight.

Now, at last, he has been taken alive - and sent to a maximum-security prison, where he is surrounded 247 by a live electric fence.

Papillon's real name is M49, and he is a four-year-old brown bear. He is far less dangerous than he sounds: he has never attacked a human. However, he does have a weakness for snacking on other people's chickens, making him an unpopular figure amongst local farmers.

His recent escape has sparked a heated debate about whether bears should be reintroduced to the wild. By the 1990s, there were only four bears left in northern Italy. Careful conservation measures have brought this figure up to around 90, but this is causing conflict with locals who worry that bears pose a threat to their livestock - and to their lives.

Bears have lived in Europe for as long as humans, and they have left their mark on human societies. Two constellationsConstellations are generally named after animals and figures from Greek mythology. Today, they are used to categorise celestial objects. Although the stars appear to be close together in the night sky, they are actually millions of miles away from each other, and from us., Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, are named after bears. The name Bernard means "brave as a bear", and linguisticLinguistics is the scientific study of human language.  Stefan Zimmer believes that the name Arthur derives from an old Celtic word meaning "bear-king".

There is no doubt that bears are lethal predators. The brown bear grows up to 2.5m long, weighs 620kg, and can run at speeds of up to 35kmhr.

But bears have generally only killed humans due to extreme hunger, or when protecting their young - they are mostly nocturnal, and live well away from human settlements. As omnivores, they are capable of living on berries, so they do not need to steal farm animals or attack humans for food.

Indeed, for most of history, bears have been the victims of humans, not the other way round. In ancient Rome, they were captured and forced to fight other wild animals, and sometimes against human gladiators. Just a few centuries ago, "bear-baiting", in which a bear would be tied to a stake and mauled by savage dogs, was a popular sport.

When humans settle, they tend to wipe out wild animals. Before American colonists arrived in California, 10,000 grizzly bears lived alongside the existing human population. The colonists slaughtered both. Today there are no bears left in California.

But humans do also co-exist with dangerous predators. In southern Egypt, it is common for people to keep young crocodiles, which eat rats and mice, as a form of live pest control, although they have to be returned to the Nile when they grow older.

Some argue that we have exaggerated the threat posed by these large predators. RabidDescribes an animal that is infected with rabies, a deadly disease that can be passed to humans by dogs and bats. It affects the brain, and can cause some odd symptoms: in its history it has sometimes been referred to as "hydrophobia", meaning "fear of water", because sufferers show signs of panic when presented with water. dogs kill as many as 25,000 people each year, but no-one questions whether or not human beings can co-exist with dogs.

Yes, say some. In Canada, people co-exist with bears living just outside their cities. If we can learn to live alongside nature, treating it with respect, then we can restore biodiversityBiodiversity is all the different kinds of life you'll find in one area - the variety of animals, plants, fungi, and even microorganisms like bacteria that make up our natural world. Each of these species and organisms work together in ecosystems, like an intricate web, to maintain balance and support life. and enrich our natural environment. Humans have little to fear from bears: the main threats to human life around the world do not come from big predators, but from preventable diseases and manmade hazards.

Not at all, say others. New ecosystems have developed around human agriculture that big predators will disrupt: chickens and sheep are not adapted to being hunted. Evidence from Spain suggests that reintroduced bear and wolf populations often eat farmers' livestock. Farmers often retaliate by killing these animals. Bringing back bears endangers not only human beings, but also the bears themselves.