Rome: Authorities in the northern Italian Alps, an area that uses an image of a bear to promote itself to visitors, have killed a mother bear they deemed to be dangerous after it injured a French tourist earlier this month.

The action by the local forest corps who shot the bear, known as KJ1, has sparked protests from animal rights groups and criticism from a government minister. KJ1 was traced and killed via its radio collar – used for tracking and monitoring wild animals – on the orders of Maurizio Fugatti, head of the provincial authority in Trento.

“KJ1 was a dangerous specimen,” the local authority said, adding that the bear had come into contact with people seven times, including the incident in which a French jogger was hurt.

The alpine province of Trento, which enjoys a large degree of autonomy from the Italian government, has been at the centre of controversy over the culling of brown bears that it says have encroached too confidently in human territory in recent years.

A DNA analysis taken after the French hiker was attacked indicated that KJ1 was responsible.

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The hiker reportedly strayed off the path about 500 metres up on an early morning hike and encountered the bear that injured him in the leg and arm. The man escaped and called for help.

Italy’s environment minister joined animal rights groups in condemning the action.

“The killing of individual bears is not the solution to the problem,” minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin said in a statement, adding that he had told Fugatti his view.