Trentino attack: bear kills jogger in northern Italy

After the autopsy it is clear: a jogger found in Trentino was fatally injured by a bear. The animal is now to be identified and then shot down.

Now there is certainty: it was a bear that attacked a jogger in Trentino, northern Italy, on Wednesday evening. The young man died as a result of the attack, according to the autopsy of the body. The 26-year-old never returned from the forest after a training run in Val di Sole, a valley that is also popular with tourists. After hours of searching, his body was found.

Bears should be shot down

The authorities said it was the first fatal incident involving a bear in the country’s history, according to the AFP news agency. The bear should now be identified with the help of its DNA traces and then shot down, according to the Trentino governor, Maurizio Fugatti. The forest where the attack happened will also be monitored closely in the near future.

In addition, three more bears are to be shot down if the responsible environmental protection agency gives their consent. They too had already become conspicuous.

Too many bears in Trentino

Governor Fugatti wants to fundamentally reduce the number of bears in Trentino. Currently there are more than a hundred and that is too much for the area. When bears were resettled in Trentino around 20 years ago, the goal was for 40 to 60 bears to live in the region, says Fugatti. There has been a debate in the region for years about whether and how bears and humans can live together in Trentino.