Graham Keeley
A HUNT was on for a bear which attacked a 75-year-old woman while she was on a walk with her family in the countryside.
The pensioner suffered a broken pelvis and cuts to her face after she was surprised by the animal during a walk on Sunday in Asturias, in northern Spain.
The attack happened when she was walking with her family between Sonande and Llamedo but became separated from the other members of the party.
She said later that the bear came out of the woods towards the road.
The animal reared up on its back legs and struck her with its front paws.
The large adult bear then disappeared into the woods shortly afterwards.
The woman suffered a broken pelvis and facial injuries, according to the Usaga union, whose members work in rural areas.
Regional police in Asturias launched a hunt for the bear.
Once they have located the animal it will be sedated and removed from the area, according to El Comercio newspaper.
There are estimated to be around 330 and 350 brown bears across the Cantabrian Mountains, a range stretching more than 400 kilometres along Spain’s northern coast, from the Pyrenees in the east to Portugal’s northernmost tip in the west.
Among them are more than 40 females who produce cubs every year.
Brown bear attacks on humans are rare in Spain but the animal sometimes targets livestock.
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