Tourist took selfie with bear ... before being mauled to death
Omar Farang Zin, 48, who travelling in the Carpathian Mountains, was dragged 60 yards down a steep gully and killed by a female bear after reportedly taking photos of the animal with its three cubs.
A day earlier, the Italian took several photos of a sleuth of bears by the side of a road, including a picture of himself with one of the animals a few yards behind him.
He also took a video of himself driving past a bear standing by the roadside, saying: 'Look at the bear, how beautiful.'
There has been an increasing number of bear attacks in the region in recent years as the country struggles to control its growing bear population.
Romania has the largest population of brown bears in the European Union, with conservationists estimating there are between 10,000 and 13,000 roaming the country's forests and mountains.
Forestry officers say that there are more than 110 bears living in the Carpathian Mountains when the optimal number should be around 25.
In one 24-hour period in May, there were three attacks in the mountains.
A 74-year-old Spanish woman was mauled by a bear as she took a photograph from her car with the window down. A Polish and a German tourist were also attacked in separate incidents.
There are signs in the area, in English as well as Romanian, warning people not to feed or get too close to wild bears.
In 2024, Romania's parliament doubled the number of bears that can legally be killed each year to 481, in an attempt to curb the population.
But wildlife groups blamed the country's bear problem on human behaviour.
Cristian Papp, from WWF Romania, told The Telegraph: 'The problem is not too many bears but the fact that we have more and more bears that are accustomed to the presence of humans and associate humans with food availability.
'For instance, hunters put out corn for wild boars but that attracts bears. Many times I have seen bears feeding on corn alongside roe deer and red deer. And tourists feed bears so they can take selfies with them. That needs to stop.'
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