Killing of KJ1 reignites bear debate in Italy.

A wild brown bear accused of attacking a French tourist was culled by Italian forestry rangers in the northern autonomous province of Trentino on Tuesday.

The killing of the 22-year-old female bear, ordered by Trentino's rightwing governor Maurizio Fugatti on the grounds that the animal was classified as dangerous, has sparked outrage among animal rights groups.

Two previous orders to cull the bear, known as KJ1, were suspended by the Trento regional administrative court following appeals from environmentalists, however Fugatti signed a new order late on Monday night.

Fugatti specified that the culling could be carried immediately, despite last-minute attempts by animal rights groups to challenge the order, according to Italian media.

KJ1 was put down on Tuesday morning in the woods above Padaro di Arco after forestry corps located the animal by its radio collar, the province of Trentino said in a statement.

The attack on the 43-year-old French tourist, who suffered non-life threatening injuries to his arms and legs, took place while he was out for a run at Naroncolo on 16 July.

Authorities claim it was the latest in a series of "at least seven interactions with man" involving KJ1, with the earliest recorded incident dating back to 2017.

The culling of KJ1 sparked an outcry on social media and from animals rights groups in Italy on Tuesday.

"Disgrace! Fugatti sent his assassins to kill the mamma bear! A little while ago, at night, he signed the decree to kill KJ1...When the administrative court cannot intervene", Michela Vittoria Brambilla, president of the parliamentary intergroup for animal rights and environmental protection, wrote on Facebook.

In a statement, the Ente Nazionale Protezione Animali (ENPA) slammed the "grotesque affair" and accused Fugatti of opening "a sensational and unacceptable conflict with administrative justice".

"Presiding over an autonomous province does not mean having carte blanche on the life and death of fauna, a state property, the heritage of the state, that is, of everyone" - stated the International Organization for Animal Protection (OIPA) - "Animals are sentient beings to be respected and protected and not objects to be removed. Once again Fugatti demonstrates that he is pursuing an 'anti-bear strategy' that does not respect animal life and biodiversity, protected by national laws and also by Article 9 of the Constitution".

The killing of KJ1 comes amid an ongoing battle between Fugatti and animal rights groups over how to deal with bears that are deemed dangerous.

Last year a 26-year-old Italian man was mauled to death by a bear while jogging along a mountain path on Mount Peller near his home in Caldes.

The bear accused of the fatal attack, JJ4, was subsequently separated from her cubs and is being held in a wildlife facility in Castellar amid an uncertain future.

Fugatti had ordered for the animal to be put down but legal action by animal rights groups has prevented this and the bear was set to be transferred to a reserve outside Italy.

In February this year the debate intensified after a bear known as M90 was culled by forestry police in Trentino following orders from Fugatti.

The animal had been deemed a “danger to public security” after allegedly following hikers along mountain paths and being spotted around residential areas.

In March animal rights groups in Italy promised to seek EU intervention after the Trentino provincial council approved a controversial decree authorising the culling of up to eight "problematic" bears a year in 2024 and 2025.

Bears were reintroduced in Trentino in 1999 after being imported from Slovenia as part of the Life Ursus scheme.

The project had originally envisaged about 50 bears in the province but the population has since grown to around 100 animals.

Fugatti has repeatedly claimed that the scheme has "got out of hand", saying that bear numbers need to be reduced to "an adequate level" to guarantee coexistence with local communities.