Bear mauls man to death

A bear fatally mauled a man today in a town near Romania’s Carpathian Mountains, authorities said.

The man was walking in a pasture near his house in Zarnesti, a city some 150 miles when the bear attacked him, news television Realitatea TV reported.

On Tuesday the same bear is believed to have attacked two other households, injuring one man.

The mid-size bear ran away after being poked with a metal pitch fork by the man’s wife.

Animal health authorities have dispatched crews to capture or kill the bear, whom they describe as very dangerous as it is injured and it attacked without being provoked.

Last month, another bear killed a US tourist and injured two others on a mountain trail about 60 miles south of Zarnesti.

Romania is home to about half of Europe’s brown bear population, but attacks on humans are rare.

Three years ago, two men died after they were attacked by a rabid bear.

In mountain cities, residents often feed bears who come down from the mountains to seek food, despite calls by authorities to avoid contact with the animals.