Mushroom picker attacked by bear in northern Italy

A man has been attacked by a brown bear while picking mushrooms in the northern Italian province of Trentino.

The 31-year-old, who was alone near the village of Rango, managed to reach safety despite injuries to his back and arms, police said on Sunday.

The bear disappeared into the woods after Saturday's attack. Authorities are working to identify it using traces of DNA. Once that is established and the bear is located, the animal is to be shot dead.

The attack occurred during a time of year when bears typically begin to hibernate. But with climate change and increasingly milder temperatures, it is becoming more common to see bears even in winter.

A bear attacked a French tourist last year near the same location where the mushroom-picker was injured. That bear was subsequently killed.

Trentino is home to more than 100 brown bears.

Typically, bears tend to avoid humans. However, in Trentino encounters have been occurring more frequently for some time. Last year, a 26-year-old jogger was killed by a bear there.

This particular bear, also known as Gaia, was captured alive. There are plans for it to be relocated to a wolf and bear park in Germany's Black Forest later this year.