A bear in Italy has been sentenced to death after attacking hikers. Activists want a stay of execution

Fabio Misseroni, 59, and his son Christian Misseroni, 28, were walking on a trail on Mount Peller Monday when they say the bear got in their way.

The bear bit into Misseroni’s leg before his father jumped onto the animal’s back so he could escape, the son told CNN. The bear then bit and hit the older man, breaking his leg in three places. Misseroni jumped up and down and clapped her hands to distract her father’s bear before the animal ran into the forest, he recalled.

The regulations of the Italian National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research require that bears that attack humans be slaughtered.

After the attack, the governor of Trentino, Maurizio Fugatti, signed a slaughter order that allows the capture and death of the bear, which authorities are trying to identify through DNA obtained from the saliva and the fur left on the wounds. from the claw and the bite and into the clothes of the father and the son.

There have been several bear attacks in the region in recent years, and local authorities have a DNA database of bears collected from feces, fur, and saliva. Surveillance cameras are used to attach DNA to animals.

But calls for the bear in this latest attack to be left alone, at least until the circumstances of the case are clarified. The Italian animal rights groups Animalisti Italiani and The World Wide Fund for Nature has asked the local government to stop the removal order until a full investigation has been carried out, even if the father or son did something to make fun of the bear, which the men deny.

Nearly 15,000 people on Saturday had signed a petition from the World Wide Fund for Nature to save the bear, calling for an immediate ban on the death penalty.

The Italian environment minister also wrote a letter saying he is against the slaughter of the bear, which he said could have been a female cub protector.

“Only after compiling certain scientific information about the animal involved in the accident with the two citizens can we evaluate technical solutions that, in my opinion, should not result in the death of the animal,” Sergio Costa wrote to Fugatti.

A family last month filmed an unusual encounter with a brown bear in northern Italy. In a video of the nail-biting encounter, 12-year-old Alessandro can be seen walking slowly towards his stepfather as the brown bear closely follows him.

The boy’s stepfather can be heard trying to convince him to keep moving towards him, calling “come, come, Ale” as they slowly move through the bushes and down the path as the bear crawls behind the boy before losing interest.

CNN’s Hada Messia and Amy Woodyatt contributed to this report.