A brown bear has been shot dead by forest rangers in Italy after it mauled a walker in the northeastern Trentino region last month, local media said Sunday.

The bear, a female identified as KJ2, was also suspected of injuring a tourist in 2015.

Trentino's regional governor called the killing "an absolute necessity" in order to secure visitor safety during the busy tourist season.

Brown bears were reintroduced to forests in northern Italy in the 1990s and there are thought to be around 50 of the animals there today.

source: AFP