A leader ordered to kill a bear in Italy

File Photo: Italian Brown Bear.

A regional leader has ordered to kill a bear after it has attacked a father and son who went on trekking earlier this weekend, said a BBC report on 25 June.

Both of them were traipsing on a path on Mount Peller north of Trento when the mammoth beast encountered them. The father jumped on the wild animal to save his child. the report suggests that his legs got broken due to this incident.

They were soon taken to the nearby hospital, where Fabio Misseroni, the father narrated the story. He said, “the bear vaulted out of the canopies like a lightening. The beast then leaped on my son, Christian, who’s 28- years old. At this point, I ran to protect my kid. He then bit my leg and my arm, then my other hand. After that, he left, miraculously. He could have killed both of us.”

Both the men’s clothes are being tested for the bear’s DNA in an attempt to identify the animal.

The head of the autonomous province of Trentino, praised their “quick reflexes”. Last month, a video went viral depicting a 12-year-old boy called Alessandro being coaxed down a mountain slope by his father as a bear walked behind him.

These occurrences have highlighted the growing bear population in the area. Wildlife groups have called on authorities not to cull the bear.

They say educating the local population would be more appropriate. Civilians of that division should learn to deal with these animals in order to maintain harmony. Killing can not be a solution.

There are between 82 and 93 bears in the province of Trentino and as an endangered species, they are part of an EU program to restore Alpine brown bears to the area.

Mr. Fugatti, a member of the right-wing nationalist League party, argues the number of bears is becoming “increasingly unsustainable” and he has signed an order to have the unidentified bear put down.

In April, a bear with the codename M49 dubbed the most wanted bear in Italy, was captured by forest rangers after almost a year on the run. M49 had been under a shoot-to-kill order because of its aggressive nature.

The World Wide Fund for Nature alerts that the circumstances behind the latest attack are unclear and has urged local authorities not to go ahead with the cull. Animal protection agency ENPA has condemned Mr. Fugatti’s order as “absurd and unjustifiable” and one “that smacks of revenge”.