The 73-year-old Albert Stocker from Velturno, missing since yesterday and found this morning in serious conditions in a meadow near Bressanone, has died in hospital in Bolzano.
The DNA test will establish whether the wounds were caused by a wolf or a dog.
The man had deep bite wounds to his neck, abdomen and arms.
In all likelihood he was attacked by a wolf, a jackal or a dog.
The man's clothing will be analyzed in the laboratory of the Mach Foundation in San Michele all'Adige, where tests were already carried out in the past to establish the identity of some bear specimens in Trentino.
The provincial wildlife management office recently did not detect the presence of wolves in the Bressanone area.
The alarm was raised yesterday evening, when Stocker did not return to the retirement home where he lived.
The search operations, which began in the evening, were resumed this morning at dawn.
At 7.20 the missing man was found unconscious by a passerby in Pinzago, lying on a lawn.
The emergency doctor, the White Cross, the mountain rescue team and a search team immediately went to the scene.
The man, seriously hypothermic and injured, was resuscitated on site and then transported to Bolzano hospital with the Aiut Alpin air ambulance, where he later died.
An autopsy will be carried out on Wednesday at the Bolzano hospital on the body of 73-year-old Albert Stocker from Velturno, who died from wounds caused by a wolf or a dog.
The Bolzano Prosecutor's Office has opened an investigation, coordinated by prosecutor Igor Secco, to trace the exact cause of death.
In fact, the first useful elements should arrive from the autopsy, although to have absolute certainty we will probably have to wait for the DNA examination of the organic traces found on the man's body.
Reproduction reserved © Copyright ANSA