Oddspot

A restaurant in Italy that put bear on the menu has received bookings from curious diners but also death threats from animal lovers.

The Al Puntic restaurant in Travesio, northeast Italy is offering bear stew and polenta for €18 (NZ$30). The meat was bought across the border in Slovenia, where bear hunting is legal and authorised butchers can sell it.

In Italy, where bears are a protected species, the decision has been met with outrage by animal rights activists.

The restaurant’s manager, Monica Paccagnella, said she was upset by the reaction, but there had been a brisk trade as customers queued up to sample bear meat for the first time.