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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 wasn'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.
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