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The Guardian


WATCH: Dash cam video shows man, walking his dog near apartment, being mauled by bear (video in Russian)
Dozens of hungry bears have besieged a small town in Russia’s far east, roaming the streets and attacking residents.
In the past month, more than 30 bears have entered inhabited areas in Russia’s Primorsky region, located between China, North Korea and the Sea of Japan (East Sea). Local authorities have had to shoot at least two animals.
Luchegorsk, a town of 21,000 on the river Kontrovod near the Chinese border, has been particularly affected.
Two large bears - a brown bear and a Himalayan bear - are now “ruling over”Luchegorsk, wandering the streets and scaring local people, the Primorskaya newspaper reported. Asian black bears have also been seen, and a further three dozen bears are circling the town, according to other reports.
Local people say they are afraid to leave their homes and that the streets are filled with the sounds of sirens and loudspeakers telling citizens not to go outside for their own safety, VladNews reported. In one case, bears reportedly ransacked beehives kept by locals. Kindergartens have kept children inside.
There is good reason for the caution: a dash cam recently captured footage of a bear jumping out from beneath a balcony to attack a man in Luchegorsk as he was walking his dog near the entrance to his apartment building. Another man was wounded in a bear attack at the local bus station.
WATCH: A bear runs away after reportedly attacking a resident (video in Russian)

Vladimir Vasilyev, head of the Primorsky region’s animal control department, said the situation in Luchegorsk had “stabilised” thanks to the efforts of police and game wardens.
“Law enforcement officers are using the sirens on their cars to chase away the bears and are shooting in the air to frighten them,” Vasilyev said, adding that some bears had been dispersed with fire hoses. “Two animals have had to be shot since the start of this invasion. They needed to be neutralised because they posed a real threat to humans and were attacking local residents.”
Vasilyev was apparently referring to an incident on August 24 when a mother bear and her grown cub roamed the streets of Luchegorsk looking for food. After the cub attacked a man, police and game wardens shot both bears. The man was later taken to hospital.
Other reports put the number of bears killed higher. A game warden told the OTV Primorye channel he had to shoot a bear when it turned on him as he was trying to chase it out of Luchegorsk.
Experts believe the hungry bears have been migrating to the Primorsky region from neighbouring Khabarovsk and China in search of food. The number of bears in Primorsky has also grown in recent years due to fewer hunters, Pavel Fomenko of the World Wildlife Fund told news agency Rosbalt.
Poor yields this year of Manchurian walnuts, acorns, pine nuts and berries across all these areas have deprived the bears of their main sources of food to fatten up for winter hibernation, sending them into towns in looking to eat.
Bear attacks have long been a problem in Russia in years when their food supplies run low. In the most extreme case, 270 bears were reportedly killed in four villages in Irkutsk province in 1968.
A heatwave last summer coincided with a rash of bear attacks in Russia’s far east that left at least three people dead. In 2010, a scorching summer left bears in Siberia so hungry that some began digging up human graves .
The bear invasion is unlikely to subside any time soon. “We predict that failing to find food in the taiga [boreal forest], bears will come to where people live more and more,”Vasilyev said.


Russians fear for their lives as border town beseiged, 'ransacked' by hungry bears - some from China

Russia's Primorsky region (in red). 

Rare animals sedated before smugglers sent them off as 'live meat' to dinner tables around China 

Bear paws seized in a raid in eastern China's Zhejiang province. Photo: SCMP Pictures 

Pangolins are under threat from poaching around Asia, especially on the mainland. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Man found dead in Yellowstone Park after being attacked by grizzly bear on his way to work 

Seven moon bears freed from bile-farming operation in Vietnam as crackdown on trade tightens

Animals Asia staff carry an anaesthetised moon bear from a private bear farm in Vietnam's northeastern province of Quang Ninh. Photo: AFP

Animals Asia staff carry an anaesthetised moon bear from a private bear farm in Vietnam's northeastern province of Quang Ninh.Photo: AFP

Bear bile farming is banned but the digestive fluid is believed to possess healing properties in traditional Chinese medicine. Photo: AFP

A captive moon bear inside a metal cage at a private bear farm. Photo: AFP

Vietnam fires foe of moon-bear sanctuary

A cub plays inside the rescue centre. Photo: Reuters

News

World

Shortages of nuts and berries have driven animals into towns to search for food, roaming the streets and scaring residents


.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Shortages of nuts and berries have driven animals into towns to search for food, roaming the streets and scaring residents

Shortages of nuts and berries have driven animals into towns to search for food, roaming the streets and scaring residents