MICHAEL POHL

Associated Press

KUFSTEIN, Austria - Authorities in Germany and Austria said Saturday they may allow hunters to shoot a marauding brown bear nicknamed Bruno after recent efforts to capture him alive failed.

Anton Steiner, the forestry minister in the Austrian state of Tyrol, said the bear was a potential danger to humans. It has been on the loose since last month.

"We see shooting it as the only possibility," Steiner said. "I know it's not a popular decision.

He acknowledged the protests that accompanied earlier proposals from neighboring Germany to shoot the bear.

Steiner said there would be no organized hunt. Instead, the ministry would simply authorize hunters to kill the bear if they encountered it.

Otmar Bernhard, the deputy environment minister of the German state of Bavaria, said authorities there were contemplating organizing a hunt if the bear reappeared on the German side of the border.

The bear - a fugitive from Italy officially named JJ1 but dubbed Bruno by German media - ambled into Germany last month, becoming the first wild bear seen in the country since 1835. He is part of a program in northern Italy to reintroduce the animals in the Alps.

The 220-pound bear is an unwelcome visitor because he has killed livestock and approached homes. Authorities say his lack of shyness could make him dangerous to humans.

After proposals to shoot the bear provoked protests, officials backed off in favor of trying to capture Bruno alive and send him to a nature preserve.

A team of Finnish tracking dogs and their handlers were unable to corner the bear so it could be shot with a tranquilizer dart, so the team returned home, officials said.

Despite the pursuit, Bruno has wandered brazenly through towns and farms, at one point sitting down near the police station in the Bavarian lakeside resort of Kochel am See. He has killed sheep and goats, yanked rabbits from their hutches and looted beehives of honey.

At one point, he was hit by a car but suffered only a glancing blow from the rearview mirror before continuing on his way. | save this article / add to your favorites list