If you go down to the Alpine woods you're in for a big surprise: a 100kg wild brown bear who goes by the name of Bruno, writes Derek Scally
He has had the starring role in a three-week bear scare after leaving his home in the Italian Alps for Tirol in western Austria. He crossed the border into Bavaria last weekend, making him the first bear sighted in the region since 1842.
Italian nature groups say Bruno is likely to be one of 20 cubs born in the mountains since a group of Slovenian bears were let into the wild there a decade ago.
But, on his travels, Bruno is suspected of slaughtering dozens of sheep, chickens and racing pigeons, as well as breaking and entering several bee hives.
Bavarian police circulated blurry mugshots of Bruno, warning local people to keep clear of the violent animal. Bavarian environment minister Werner Schnapauff branded Bruno a problembär because he seemed fearless of approaching humans. Last Monday, the minister bowed to demands to allow farmers and hunters to shoot the bear on sight "in cases of physical or mortal danger".
Animal rights activists, angry at the decision of the Bavarians, were infuriated when, on Tuesday, Austrian authorities decided to follow suit.
Germany's Bild newspaper put an image of Bruno in a gun's crosshairs on its front page under the headline: "Death Sentence for Bear". But since the sentence was pronounced, Bruno has gone on the lam.
Hunters have tried without success to lure him into a 2m-wide aluminium tube trap. Another suggestion to set up snares was rejected by the director of Munich Zoo, Henning Wiesner. He told a Bavarian newspaper that a bear such as Bruno would rather gnaw off his own leg while dangling from a tree than get caught by hunters.
Mr Wiesner suggested using darts to knock Bruno out after locating him with a pack of hunting dogs. "The only problem is that no hunting dogs in Germany have ever smelled a bear," he said.
Yesterday it emerged that he has probably escaped Germany and is now in Tirol. But Austrian authorities say Bruno is an unbearable threat and will be killed when caught after they conduct a DNA test to make sure they have their bear.
Hoteliers in the Bavarian village of Garmisch-Partenkirchen on the Austrian border have jumped on the bandwagon. They're offering Bruno-spotting packages starting at €169 a night.