The young jogger is said to have defended himself with a stick, but for the 26-year-old from Italy any help came too late: a bear killed the young man.
Caldes – There has been speculation since Thursday, now there is clarity: the jogger found dead in the northern Italian province of Trentino was attacked by a bear and fatally injured. This finding now brings the autopsy. The young man’s body had serious injuries when it was found, and the jogger’s body was found in the forests of Trentino, which is popular with holidaymakers. Details suggest that the 26-year-old must have fought for his life.
Jogger attacked and killed by bear in Italy: autopsy reveals gruesome details
The young man was found near a forest path early Thursday morning in the municipality of Caldes, in the Val di Sole valley. According to the province, the man’s body had serious injuries. Deep scratches on the body and face, bite wounds and a deep wound on the stomach are said to have quickly fueled the suspicion that the young jogger must have been killed by a bear.
The young Italian’s family sounded the alarm following the 26-year-old had not returned from jogging in the woods on Wednesday. After hours of searching involving various emergency services, his body was found by search dogs next to the forest path. Because of the condition of the body, authorities ordered an autopsy. As numerous media are now reporting, this should confirm the terrible suspicion: the young man was the victim of a bear attack. Like the one among others ORF reported, the young man is said to have fought for his life. Accordingly, a stick with traces of blood indicates that the 26-year-old still wanted to defend himself once morest the bear. The Italian Newspaper Republic reported that a bite on the neck led to the young man’s death.
“Today is a sad day for the municipality of Val di Sole and for Trentino, which gathers around the family and friends of the young man who died in the woods of Caldes,” the province said on Thursday.
Italy: wild bears are troubling the region – first attack in early March
However, the Trentino forest corps and the provincial administration repeatedly warn of possible encounters with wild animals in the forests and hilly areas of the region. In the mountainous and wooded area, lynxes, wolves and bears are particularly native. However, wild bears in particular have been causing problems for the region for some time. About 100 bears live there in the wild – and the number of bears is increasing according to regional figures. In 1999, as part of the EU project “Life Ursus”, a dozen bears were brought from Slovenia and released into the region where the bear population was feared to be extinct at the time.
According to the Coldiretti agricultural association, the spread of bears poses a serious risk not only to the safety of local people, but also to the economy, from agriculture to tourism.
In the area, just under an hour’s drive from the provincial and regional capital of Trento, bears have recently been sighted once more and once more. Locals told L’Adige newspaper that there had been several attacks on farm animals such as sheep in the past month. In early March, not far from Caldes, a man walking his dog was attacked by a bear and injured his head and arm.
