TRENTO. The 33-year-old municipal worker who was injured by a bear on Saturday afternoon had taken advantage of a respite from the bad weather to go look for mushrooms in the woods above the hamlets of Marazzone, Cavaione and Rango, in the municipality of Bleggio Superiore, in Trentino. “I didn’t even think about a bear: when I felt it hit me from behind, the first thing I thought was that someone, a person, was pushing me,” the 33-year-old told family and friends, forestry officials and the mayor of Municipality of Bleggio Superiore Flavio Riccadonna.
“I did what they say to do. I put my hands behind my head to protect the back of my neck and I lay down on the ground to try to protect myself. Then once on the ground I could only pray,” added the 33-year-old, who took a big scare but he managed to get away with little: he didn’t even have to go to hospital. The animal, after inflicting a series of paws on him, immediately moved away, allowing the man to run downstream until he reached the Imperial Wood residence, where he called for help. “The fact that it happened certainly accentuated the concern, even if the fear was already there before”, the mayor of Bleggio Superiore Flavio Riccadonna explains to ANSA.
“People no longer experience the territory as they did a few years ago. We are on the edge of the forest, there are no important mountain ranges: our territory is made up of a network of paths that lead to second homes, houses, huts and refreshment areas where people once went peacefully. Nowadays we can no longer do this due to the massive presence of plantigrades. In recent months we have had increasingly frequent sightings until this last event fear has increased further.”
The attack, adds Riccadonna, occurred around 5pm in a point that is “just a few minutes from the towns of Marazzone, Cavaione and Rango”.