As of: February 21, 2024, 10:38 a.m
By: Johannes Welte
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A pensioner has been killed by a “dog-like animal”.
Maybe it was a wolf.
The mayor of the town gives terrible details.
Feldthurns - The municipality of Feldthurns in South Tyrol is located on the Brenner motorway - between the South Tyrolean towns of Klausen and Brixen on the eastern slopes of the Sarntal Alps, from which you can enjoy a dream panorama of the Dolomites.
But this idyll in northern Italy is overshadowed by a terrible event.
South Tyrolean pensioner bitten to death by a “dog-like animal” – “We are all shocked”
“We are all shocked.” Mayor Konrad Messner still can’t believe it.
A citizen of Feldthurns was killed by an animal.
“It was said to have been a wolf or a dog,” reports Messner.
What happened?
The pensioner Albert S. (73), father of three adult daughters, took a trip to the neighboring town of Pinzagen, six kilometers away on the outskirts of Brixen, on Sunday afternoon (February 18th).
There he stopped at an inn and drank some mineral water.
In the evening, he said that he wanted to go for a walk to a winery where friends should give him a lift in the car.
But Albert S. never arrived at the retirement home in Feldthurns where he lived.
At around 9:30 p.m., the family informed by the home alerted the emergency call center.
Fire brigade, search dogs and mountain rescuers searched the area - without success.
It was only on Monday morning (February 19th) that a couple walking their dogs found the missing man seriously injured on a hiking trail in a meadow, just 50 meters from a terraced housing estate.
Albert S. was lying about 450 meters from the restaurant where he was last seen alive.
Mayor: “He must have looked pretty bad”
“He was said to have looked pretty bad,” reports Messner.
Albert S. was still breathing; according to the
Dolomiten
newspaper , he had severe bite injuries and scratches on his neck, arms, upper and lower abdomen.
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Emergency services at the site where the seriously injured South Tyrolean was found.
It was discovered beneath the natural stone wall.
© Tschotsch Fire Department/Facebook
A local resident tells
IPPEN.MEDIA
that parts of the victim's face were missing.
The pensioner was flown to the Bolzano clinic, where he later died from his serious injuries.
The carabinieri took DNA traces to clarify which animal had inflicted the fatal injuries on the 73-year-old.
The results are expected on Wednesday (February 21).
Experts consider an attack by a wolf to be very unlikely
Is it possible that a wolf was the “perpetrator”?
Uwe Friedel, wolf expert at the Association for Nature Conservation in Bavaria, considers a wolf attack to be very unlikely: “Wolf attacks on people are extremely rare.” The probability of being attacked by a feral dog is much higher.
Friedel continued: “None of the reasons we know from other regions of the world for wolf attacks on people exist in South Tyrol.
There are enough wild animals that it can kill, and there is no rabies there either.”
Defensive behavior could also be ruled out since the event apparently occurred in an open field and the animal was therefore given an opportunity to escape.
Friedel: “The wolf generally avoids contact with humans.” The last wolf sighting in the region was a year ago.
Mayor Messner doesn't know anything about feral dogs either.
Did a wolf kill the pensioner?
A DNA analysis should provide certainty.
© Klaus-Dietmar Gabbert/dpa
In a study by the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, the largest number of wolf attacks on humans (380) that occurred between 2002 and 2020 in the wolf's range in Europe, Asia and North America were attributed to rabies.
42 occurred as part of defensive behavior, 67 attacks as part of foraging behavior.
Forty-two of the foraging attacks occurred in Iran, ten in Israel and six in North America.
Six people died in Iran, one in Tajikistan and one person each in Canada and the USA.
In 18 years, 26 people around the world were killed by wolves - the majority of the animals had rabies
Friedel: “I remember a case a few years ago in Alaska in which a jogger was killed by wolves while hunting.
This usually happens due to a lack of food, which is why it occurs mainly in dry and very cold regions that are therefore poor in game.” It could also happen that wolves are attracted by people.
In June 2020, a wolf attacked joggers in southern Italy.
It turned out that he had been fed by tourists and had genetic traces from dogs.
He was captured.
A total of 26 people were killed by wolf attacks worldwide between 2002 and 2020, 14 of which were caused by animals suffering from rabies, nine while searching for food and three due to defensive behavior.
Not a single person in Europe had lost their life to wolves.
Not far from the terrible event, there had been a rockfall on the Brenner state road just days ago.
A few days earlier, large rocks even rolled onto the Brenner motorway.
In neighboring Trentino, nature also struck with rock falls on roads.