Local authorities said a bear attacked a fleeing young man in northeast Italy on Wednesday, the first such incident in the country.

Andrea Papi, 26, trained in a wooded, mountainous area near his village of Caldes in the Trentino region.

His family, concerned that he could not return home for so long, informed the authorities. Rescuers found him dead on the night of Wednesday to Thursday in a ravine. He had deep wounds on his neck, arms and chest, clearly inflicted by some large carnivore.

According to the results of a forensic medical examination, Andrea Papi died from injuries inflicted by a bear, a source close to the investigation said, confirming the information of the Italian media.

Local authorities confirmed tonight that a decision had been made to launch an operation to exterminate the bear, said Trentino President Maurizio Fugati.

In March, a bear attacked a man in the same area. Due to the success of the Life Ursus bear reintroduction project in Trentino (1996-2004), 69 bears were recorded in the region in 2021. In fact, there are about 100 of them, although the program was supposed to have a population of about 50 animals, Fugati commented, in order to ensure a safe coexistence with the locals.

“Therefore, it is advisable to reduce this number as soon as possible,” he added.

However, Anamaria Prokatsi of the National Animal Welfare Association (Enpa) denounced the lack of preventive action by the authorities. “A man is not a target of a bear, which, on the contrary, is a particularly shy animal that keeps its distance” from people, the ex-deputy emphasized, noting that no efforts were made to “prevent access to areas where they are she-bears with their cubs.”

The environmental organization WWF, although emphasizing that it opposes the systematic extermination of bears involved in non-lethal attacks, felt that the one responsible for the death of young Andrea should be killed.

There are about 120-200 bears in Italy, mainly in Trentino and Abruzzo.

Source: APE-MPE, AFP.