Bear attacks have killed six people in Russia’s Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk this month alone. In neighboring Khakassia, bears approached the town of Abaza last week from so many directions that a senior regional official described it as “effectively under siege.”
Three bears were killed during an operation to drive them away from an area near the town bridge, Khakassia’s deputy head Dmitry Buchenik said last Wednesday. Across Siberia and Russia’s Far East, attacks have left 17 people dead in recent months, according to state news agency Tass.
Russia is home to the world’s largest brown bear population, and the animal has long been one of its most recognizable symbols. But for communities reporting bears near homes, roads and tourist routes, that familiar presence is becoming an immediate concern.
In Krasnoyarsk, investigators are examining whether officials ignored repeated warnings before the fatal attacks. In Tomsk, authorities have restricted forest excursions and tourist gatherings until at least Nov. 1.
The encounters have drawn attention to what is bringing bears closer to people and how to prevent attacks.
A wildlife specialist points to shortages of food before winter, while Russia’s Natural Resources Ministry warns that garbage and deliberate feeding can erode the animals’ natural wariness of humans.
The ministry also urges caution in judging the scale of the problem: encounters are difficult to count, and videos now circulate far beyond the communities where they happen.
Mikhail Krechmar, a specialist in conflicts between large animals and humans, told Anadolu that heightened bear activity was being observed in populated parts of Siberia, including southern Krasnoyarsk, Tuva, Khakassia, Irkutsk and Buryatia.
“All these areas have had a very poor crop of their main fattening foods – nuts and acorns. Without them, bears cannot settle into their dens for the winter, and this is why there has been a mass movement of bears toward human settlements,” he said.
Krechmar said such episodes occur in cycles, with earlier reports describing similar conditions.
“The last time we saw the highest number of bear attacks on people and the highest number of bears coming into human settlements was in 2014, and that figure has not yet been exceeded. There was an absolutely similar situation in 1962. I read the old reports, and I can see that exactly the same thing was happening,” he said.
The Natural Resources Ministry said between 20 and 30 bear attacks are officially recorded each year, identifying 2014 as an exceptional year.
“The only anomalous spike occurred in 2014, when 166 cases were recorded,” it told Anadolu.
The ministry said encounters were harder to document than attacks. People may not realize a bear has approached at night, while those who spot one in the wilderness may tell friends or relatives without notifying officials.
“Videos recorded during such incidents now spread rapidly through the internet and social media, creating the impression that they are happening everywhere,” it added.
While shortages can push bears out of the forest, food around settlements can give them a reason to return.
“We are dealing with unsanitary conditions in settlements and garbage dumps, as well as with people behaving very inappropriately toward bears – trying to feed them and then being attacked by the bears because they do not understand these nuances,” Krechmar said.
The ministry said expanding economic and tourism activity was making food waste increasingly accessible to bears. It warned particularly about animals that have “grown up around garbage dumps.”
“A mother bear brings her cubs to feed near people. This is how feeding preferences develop, and the animal eventually stops eating other types of food,” it said.
According to the ministry, Russia had 307,900 brown bears in 2026, with the largest populations concentrated in Siberia and the Far East.
But the size of that population does not directly determine the danger to people, it stressed. Numbers vary considerably between regions, and an animal’s familiarity with humans is a crucial factor.
“The dangerous bears are those that are not afraid of people – for example, animals that have grown up around garbage dumps, feed on food waste near tourist bases and settlements, or have been deliberately fed by people,” it said.
Krechmar cautioned against attributing every attack to human behavior, however.
Bears are predators, he said, and an encounter can be dangerous even when people have not tried to attract them.
He estimates that between 30 and 80 people are killed in bear attacks each year.
“It may seem like a small figure, but in reality it is a very, very significant number,” he said.
For Svetlana Sidyakina, the encounter came during a vacation near Lake Lama on the Putorana Plateau in north-central Russia.
She and her husband had gone into the tundra to pick berries. She was gathering fruit while he walked nearby.
“My husband spotted the bear. There were bushes there, and apparently we disturbed it. It rose onto its hind legs and stood up from behind the bushes. When my husband saw it, he immediately shouted, ‘Sveta, run!’” she told Anadolu.
Sidyakina said she was so frightened that she could barely turn her head toward the animal, seeing it only out of the corner of her eye.
“And I just ran – I ran at such a speed that nobody expected from me. My husband later said that I simply jumped over every obstacle in my path like some kind of professional athlete,” she said.
At first, she did not know where to go. Her husband’s shouting alerted friends waiting on the lakeshore, who began firing shots into the air. She used the sound to find her bearings.
In Krasnoyarsk, the question facing investigators is whether authorities could have prevented fatal encounters.
Residents submitted more than 120 reports of bears entering populated areas across more than 15 districts, including the regional capital, according to the Investigative Committee’s branch covering Krasnoyarsk and Khakassia.
Despite those warnings, investigators alleged, local authorities failed to take measures to regulate the bear population or prevent the animals from approaching inhabited areas.
A criminal investigation into alleged negligence is underway.
“The investigation will include a legal assessment of the actions taken by officials responsible for responding to the presence of bears in inhabited areas,” the committee said.
The Natural Resources Ministry said regional authorities are responsible for preventing attacks and regulating bear populations when they pose a threat to people.
Hunting is one mechanism used to control numbers, with regions setting annual quotas based on population estimates, it said. Authorities can also introduce heightened-alert regimes and fines for feeding wild animals.
The ministry said it was gathering proposals from the regions on further changes to legislation.
Krechmar urged residents in affected parts of southern Siberia, where he described the situation as an “emergency,” to stay out of the taiga unless absolutely necessary.
“Not every encounter will end in an attack, but every encounter with a bear is dangerous. I emphasize – every one,” he said.
“A bear that is hungry, that has not eaten for two or three days and sees no prospects of finding food in the future is deadly dangerous, and cannot be scared away,” he added.
For authorities, however, a bear’s appearance near a settlement does not automatically mean it must be removed, the ministry said. The response should depend on its behavior, proximity to people and whether there is an immediate threat.
“The animal can be scared away if it is not showing aggression, retains its natural wariness of humans and has not become accustomed to the same ‘easy food’ it gets because of people,” it said.
That distinction puts food waste and feeding at the center of efforts to prevent further encounters.
For people who do encounter a bear, Krechmar’s recommendations ranged from quietly withdrawing to trying to frighten the animal away, depending on the circumstances.
In areas without a “bear alert,” he advised moving quietly out of the animal’s sight, then allowing it time to leave before departing the area.
“If a bear is coming toward you, try to scare it with your voice. Of course, bears may eat us if the opportunity arises, but humans are not their usual food,” he said.
He recommended carrying a whistle when hiking or picking mushrooms and berries, and suggested that a loud horn could also help scare a bear away.
“Take it and blow it. There is also such a thing as a pneumatic horn, which is very useful because it produces extremely harsh, unpleasant sounds. You can also download some particularly loud, awful modern music onto your smartphone and play it to the bear,” he said.
He also suggested holding a jacket above one’s head to appear larger, saying bears’ poor eyesight could make the sudden change confusing enough to drive them away.
“If the bear has already charged and is directly attacking, then, if you have time, fall to the ground, pull your legs toward your stomach, cover your head with your hands, expose your back to it and pray,” he said.
news_share_descriptionsubscription_contact
contact_the_ombudsman
is_there_an_error_in_this_story
