An Austrian driver collided with Bruno at about 11 p.m. CET on a country road south of the Bavarian town of Bad Tölz near the border between Germany and Austria, Austrian police said. The car was damaged but able to drive on and the driver reported the incident to police.

"The animal is unlikely to have been so badly hurt that its actions are impaired," said the Bavarian government's bear expert Manfred Wölfl. No blood or fur was found at the scene of the accident. Bruno was only knocked on the head with the car's wing mirror.

Bruno had been trying to cross the road, presumably after taking a bath in a lake next to it. As soon as the driver reported the accident, a special bear hunting team recently flown in from Finland rushed to the site but its sniffer dogs failed to pick up a scent for the elusive predator.

Bruno, the first wild bear to be spotted in Germany for 170 years, has been playing cat and mouse with local hunters for over a month during which he has been killing sheep, chickens and rabbits and scaring residents in the Alpine border region between Austria, Germany and Italy.

Authorities want to catch him because unlike other bears in the Alps, he isn't shy of humans and may hurt someone in his search for food.