( CNN ) -- M13 was the only bear known to have been living wild in Switzerland , according to the Swiss national broadcaster . Despite that status , the young male was shot Tuesday morning in Poschiavo Valley , in the Alps near the Italian border , by authorities who feared he was a threat to people . The brown bear had become dangerous because he regularly sought out food in inhabited areas -- including a school -- and had started following people during the day , the Swiss Federal Environment Office said . The creature also showed little fear of humans despite several attempts to get it away from villages , it said . There was so much concern about the bear 's behavior , he was fitted with a radio collar so he could be closely monitored . And in November of last year , he was classified as a `` problem bear . '' When M13 emerged from his winter hibernation recently , that pattern of behavior was repeated , pushing authorities to act , the environment office said in a prepared statement Wednesday . `` The bear M13 had certainly never showed any aggression toward man , but the risk that an accident might happen and that people might be badly injured or killed had become intolerable , '' it said . Nonetheless , news of his death prompted grief and outrage on a Facebook page set up by supporters of M13 . Some questioned why he was n't relocated or placed in a zoo rather than being shot by wildlife officers . The Swiss branch of the World Wildlife Fund environmental campaign group said it was `` extremely disappointed '' that the bear was killed . Joanna Schoenenberger , an expert on bears at the WWF , said it was far too soon to shoot M13 . M13 `` was in no way a problem bear , '' she said , adding that wildlife officers should have continued efforts to make him more frightened of humans . `` His death is the result of a lack of acceptance of bears in Poschiavo , which is a direct consequence of a lack of information among the population , '' she said . The risk remains that other bears might follow in M13 's paw prints and stray into Switzerland 's Grisons area . According to the Swiss Federal Environment Office , M13 was one of about 40 individuals originating in the Trentino Alto Adige area of Italy , where a reintroduction program is under way . The bear 's name comes from the system of identifying bears from that Italian population , with M standing for males and F for females , said WWF spokesman Philip Gehri . M13 was the 13th male from that group to be born in the wild . Faced with the migration of these bears , Swiss authorities have the dilemma of whether to try to protect the population as a whole or a few individuals , the environment office said . `` In order to give the bear population a chance to reestablish itself in Switzerland , circumstances sometimes arise when unfortunately an individual must be killed , '' it said . Eight bears have entered Switzerland since 2006 , the WWF said . If others follow , they should not be killed `` simply because we have n't done our homework , '' said Schoenenberger . The WWF advises that people in areas where bears may be present safeguard livestock , put garbage in bear-proof trashcans and protect beehives . And for the brown bear to survive in the Alps , its human neighbors must accept it , Schoenenberger said . Switzerland is not the only country to struggle with the question of how to help humans and natural predators coexist without friction . In the United States , lawmakers in Minnesota voted last year to allow limited hunting of wolves , after they were removed from federal protection . Conservation groups , including the Humane Society , opposed the decision , but the Minnesota-based International Wolf Center argued that wolves are a threat to domestic animals wherever the two coexist .
NEW : Bear called M13 `` was in no way a problem bear , '' says conservation group expert . The bears were killed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect them from poachers. The young male was killed in an Alpine valley near the border with Italy . Supporters of M13 express their grief and outrage on Facebook .