An Italian tourist was dragged to his death by a bear in Romania's Carpathian Mountains, authorities say. Omar Farang Zin, who had been riding his motorcycle through the mountains, was dragged more than 200 feet down a gully and mauled to death by a female bear on Thursday, the Telegraph reports. Authorities say he was attacked at a tourist area on the Transfagarasan road. A day earlier, he posted photos of bears on Facebook, including a selfie with a bear cub in the background, reports the Mirror.
"Unfortunately, he was already dead when we arrived," Ion Sanduloiu, head of the Arges County Mountain Rescue Service, tells the BBC. "The injuries were extremely severe. Even though he was wearing a helmet and full protective gear, it wasn't enough." Sanduloiu says Zin had parked his motorcycle next to a sign that warned against feeding bears. The country's brown bear population is believed to be between 10,000 and 13,000, the highest in the European Union, and this is the latest in a series of attacks in tourist areas in the mountains, the Independent reports.
"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," Cristian Papp, from WWF Romania tells the Telegraph. "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." Sanduloiu says that to prevent more deaths, "the solution is simple, in my opinion: higher fines and even prison sentences for those who stop to feed the bears."
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