In Bulgaria a man was killed in an attack attributed to a bear accompanied by her cub in the Vitosha mountains, just outside Sofia. Forensic tests confirmed the animal origin of the wounds. “The findings of the medical examiner and a wildlife expert demonstrate that the marks found on the body are those of a she-bear accompanied by her cub,” a spokesperson for the Sofia police said.
Police did not disclose the victim’s age, but Bulgarian media said the man was in his thirties. The body was found Saturday afternoon near a road connecting two chalets in the northwestern part of the massif.
Vitosha, 2,295 meters high and located about half an hour from the Bulgarian capital, is a popular destination for hikers from Sofia. The area is home to numerous wild animals, including deer, roe deer, wild boar and wolves. It is estimated that around a dozen bears live in the massif.
The last documented case of a person killed by a bear in Bulgaria dates back to 2010, in the Rhodope Mountains, in the south of the country. In July last year an Italian motorcyclist was killed by a bear in Romania, along a famous panoramic road in the Carpathians.