Bear kills jogger in Italy

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Bear kills jogger in Italy

A bear attacked and killed a jogger on a woodland path in North-west Italy, the first case of its kind, a source close to the case told AFP Friday.

Andrea Papi, 26, was killed out running Wednesday in the mountainous region near his village, Caldes, in the Trentino region, said the source.

His family raised the alarm when he failed to return and a search team found his body overnight.

He had suffered deep wounds to the neck, arms and chest and an autopsy carried out on Friday concluded he had been attacked by a bear, the source added, confirming Italian news reports.

Already in March, a man had been attacked by a bear in the same region, launching a debate on the dangers posed by the animals, which were reintroduced there between 1996 and 2004.

The local authority has decided to track and kill the animal, once it had been identified, Trentino region president Maurizio Fugatti told reporters Friday evening.

Environmental group WWF had already acknowledged that it needed to be put down.

But Annamaria Procacci a former ecologist deputy who now works with the animal welfare group ENPA, denounced the lack of precautions taken by local officials.

Bears normally kept their distance from people, she argued.

The local authority had to ensure that people were kept away from zones where female bears were raising their cubs, she added.