Authorities say the female jogger's injuries are not life-threatening.

Following the encounter in the Kasukkala-Sunila area, south-east of Lappeenranta, the bear headed toward the centre of town. The incident was reported shortly before 6 pm.

Police were assisted by frontier guard officers and 50 hunters in their search for the bear.

Encounters with bears are common in the South Karelia region. In Lappeenranta alone, 137 bear sightings have been reported to authorities this year.

In June 1998, a jogger was killed after startling a mother bear in Ruokolahti, some 50 km from Lappeenranta -- the first such fatality in the country in more than a century.

Cubs Unable to Fend for Themselves

According to Dr. Jonna Katajisto, who has studied bears and their movements, the cubs would probably not have been able to survive without their mother. Admitting their shooting gave rise to emotions, she added the cubs would not have survived alone in the forest. It would have been most unlikely for them to have made a winter nest without their mother’s help.

Putting the cubs in a zoo was not an alternative as bears needed a much larger environment in which to survive, she added.