A female bear called Amarena was shot dead late on Thursday by a man using a rifle on the outskirts of the Abruzzo town of San Benedetto dei Marsi, the Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park (Pnalm) said on Friday.
The man who killed the animal was identified by park rangers and questioned by Carabinieri police.
The shooting happened outside the national park.
"I fired because I was scared but I did want to kill," the man told the Carabinieri, sources said.
"I found it on my property. It was an impulsive, instinctive act".
The Pnalm said the killing was "unjustified" and had caused huge damage, as it had taken out one of the park's most prolific females ever, stressing that Amarena "had never caused any type of problem to humans".
It said it would now seek to find Amarena's two cubs and assess what to do with them.
Abruzzo Governor Marco Marsilio described the killing as "incomprehensible" and "a very serious act against the whole region that leaves us with pain and anger" San Benedetto dei Marsi Mayor Antonio Cerasani said that Amarena and her cubs had been seen in the town in recent days.
A 17-year-old female bear killed a man in the northern province of Trento earlier this year.
Jj4 has been held at the Casteller sanctuary in Trento since mid April after it attacked and killed 26-year-old trail runner Andrea Papi on Mount Peller near the Alpine town of Caldes on April 5.
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