A French tourist has been hospitalised after being attacked by a bear in northern Italy, according to local authorities.
The 43-year-old victim was out for a run when the incident occurred, as reported by AGI, an Italian news agency. The man’s injuries are not considered life-threatening.
“A foreign tourist was attacked by a bear this morning in Naroncolo, within the municipality of Dro, just north of Lake Garda,” stated the province of Trento.
“Medics provided assistance and he was airlifted to Santa Chiara hospital in Trento with limb injuries.”
Forestry officials have launched an investigation into the incident. This attack comes shortly after Romanian parliamentarians decided to double the brown bear cull. The decision followed the fatal mauling of a tourist last week.
Reintroduction of brown bears in Trento
Brown bears were reintroduced to the Trento region between 1996 and 2004. The initiative aimed to reintroduce 50 bears, but their population has now increased to about 100, according to local authorities.
In April 2023, a jogger was fatally attacked by a bear on a forest trail. The killing sparked a debate about the reintroduction program’s safety.
The female bear implicated in the jogger’s death, which some campaigners argued was wrongly accused, was separated from her cubs and placed in an enclosure after the incident.
Following numerous appeals from animal rights advocates, provincial authorities said they would relocate the bear to a sanctuary in Germany near the Black Forest.
