Most people don’t need to be reminded that it’s a bad idea to try to get up close and personal with a bear in the wild. Unfortunately, an Italian man taking a motorcycle tour of Romania lost his life after trying to feed one directly next to a sign warning against that particular behavior.

Humans may have managed to establish themselves as the world’s foremost apex predator, but that reputation doesn’t mean much when you’re a single person who comes face-to-face with another species that has a claim to that title in the arena they call home.

That includes the various types of bears that tend to be at the top of the food chain in the regions they roam, including the many brown bears in Romania that have firmly staked their claim in the Carpathian Mountains and the surrounding areas.

Earlier this year, researchers in Romania published the results of a study that asserted the country (which has the largest bear population in Europe aside from Russia) is likely home to upwards of 13,000 members of that species while correcting a previous estimate that pegged the total closer to 8,000.

That was a cause for alarm when you consider brown bears have injured around to 275 people in attacks and killed 26 others since 2005, and now, that second tally has risen due to the sadly preventable incident that unfolded within its borders last week.

According to the BBC, an Italian tourist was riding his motorcycle through the scenic Transfagarasan Road that cuts through the Carpathians on July 1st when he spotted a bear and parked his bike directly next to a sign warning people not to approach or feed the animals.

The head of the Mountain Rescue Service in the area said the 48-year-old man declined to heed that advice and approached the bear that subsequently dragged him into the nearby forest and down the ravine where he was pronounced dead after officials responding to an emergency call that was placed by a bystander discovered his body.

A local outlet reports authorities searched the tourist’s phone and discovered he’d taken multiple selfies in close proximity to bears he’d encountered on the same road the previous day, and first responders who tracked down the bear noted she acted aggressively toward them before they were able to successfully euthanize the animal.

Romanian officials recently cited the aforementioned population report while lobbying the European Commission to declassify brown bears as a protected species in the country, saying the animals have become increasingly fearless thanks in no small part to the irresponsible behavior of humans they’ve begun to view as a food source in multiple senses of the term.

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