Bear Siege: Russian regions continue to suffer from predator attacks
Three bears were killed in the Khakass city of Abaza overnight. The animals were simultaneously spotted in several areas of the settlement. Animals are increasingly being noticed in different regions of Russia. In the Krasnoyarsk Territory, for example, where six people have become victims of bears since the beginning of the year, the Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case on negligence. Altai, Kamchatka, Buryatia and Irkutsk region are also subject to predator attacks. "Izvestia" collected the latest incidents involving bears and found out why they are increasingly coming out to people.
Bears in the Abaza
On the night of September 23, residents of Abaza in the Republic of Khakassia noticed bears in different parts of the city. Dmitry Buchenik, the deputy head of the region, described the events as a "bearish siege."
"The Taiga city is actually under a bear siege — the exits of the animals were recorded from all sides. Some animals were chased away, but three were killed, one bear was huge," he wrote on the messenger "Max".
According to the head of the Abaza, Valentina Filimonova, at night the animals were driven away in the area of the city bridge, the gardens of the Abaza-Zarechnaya and the "Cheryomushki" dacha society. One of the bears damaged the fence of a suburban area while fleeing. There were no reports of casualties among local residents.
Abaza is located in the taiga area, so bears periodically appear in the vicinity of the city. However, the simultaneous exit of several animals from different directions created an immediate threat to the population. Earlier it was reported that since the beginning of the season, at least 16 bears have been eliminated in Khakassia, whose behavior was considered potentially dangerous.
Bear attacks in the Krasnoyarsk Territory
The most difficult situation has developed in the neighboring Krasnoyarsk Territory. According to the Main Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia for the region and Khakassia, six people died in 2026 as a result of attacks by brown bears. Deaths occurred in the Yenisei, Sosnovoborsky and Ermakovsky municipal districts.
One of the latest incidents was registered on September 22 in the Yenisei district. According to preliminary data, a 39-year-old man went to the forest for mushrooms with two friends. Their group was attacked by a bear. Two people managed to escape, and the third suffered fatal injuries.
Another incident occurred on September 16 in the village of Verkhny Kebezh, Ermakov district. A predator attacked an elderly woman in the courtyard of a private house. She died on the spot. Earlier, attacks by animals on mushroom pickers and other people in the forest were also recorded in the region.
After a series of fatal accidents, investigators opened a criminal case under Part 3 of Article 293 of the Criminal Code ("Negligence resulting in the death of two or more persons by negligence"). The UK suggests that the regional Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, as well as other responsible officials, may not have responded in a timely manner to numerous reports of bear sightings.
Since the beginning of September alone, the departments have received at least 123 signals about the appearance of animals in or near populated areas. At the same time, the number of brown bears in the Krasnoyarsk Territory is estimated at about 26.6 thousand individuals. In some areas, the population has increased 2.5 times in recent years.
The regional Prosecutor's Office also concluded that measures to regulate the number of animals were taken untimely and did not ensure the safety of the population. The investigation of the criminal case is under the supervision of the supervisory authority.
Bear attack in the Tomsk region
In the Tomsk region, two people became victims of one bear. According to the regional office of the Investigative Committee, on September 18, a 44-year-old farm worker went to the forest near the village of Sever in the Kolpashevsky district to find a lost cow, and did not return.
The next day, his 46-year-old fellow villager went in search of the man. Later, he also stopped contacting. The bodies of both residents were found in the forest on September 20. There was an aggressive bear nearby, which was subsequently eliminated. Investigators are establishing all the circumstances of the incident.
The population of bears in the Tomsk region exceeds 11 thousand individuals. In the summer and autumn of 2026, the situation became more complicated due to forest fires and a shortage of natural feed. Since the beginning of September alone, the regional authorities have made 56 decisions on the forced shooting of animals — almost twice as many as in the whole of 2025.
Due to the activity of predators, the authorities suspended excursions, tourist gatherings and other mass events in the forests until November 1. The possibility of introducing a high-alert regime throughout the region was also discussed.
Recent bear attacks in Russia: Altai, Kamchatka, Buryatia and Irkutsk region
According to official data, from August 1 to September 21, bear attacks on humans were recorded in at least nine regions of Russia. In addition to Khakassia, the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Tomsk Region, dangerous encounters took place in the Altai Republic, Kemerovo, Novgorod, Amur and Irkutsk regions, Buryatia and Kamchatka.
One of the most high-profile cases was near the village of Artybash in Altai. On August 19, a bear attacked a tent with tourists and killed a 29-year-old girl.
In September, a predator entered the territory of one of the facilities in Ust-Kamchatsk, breaking the fence, and attacked the guard. The man died from his injuries. Attacks on people have also been reported in Buryatia and the Irkutsk region.
Due to the increased frequency of animal exits, a high-alert regime was introduced in 11 districts of Tuva, Ust-Ilimsk and Bratsk, several cities of the Kemerovo region and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. In Zakamensk in Buryatia, schools and technical schools were temporarily transferred to distance learning, and in Baikalsk in the Irkutsk region, restrictions were imposed on the movement of residents in the evening and at night.
In total, according to data published on September 23, 17 people died in Russia in 2026 as a result of animal attacks. At the same time, the Ministry of Natural Resources noted that in recent years, about 20-30 bear incidents have usually been registered in the country annually. The exception was 2014, when 166 such cases were recorded.
Why do bears come out to people and how to avoid attacks
Experts cite several reasons for the increase in the number of encounters with bears. One of them is an increase in the population. According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, in 2026 there are about 307.9 thousand brown bears in Russia, whereas in 1990 there were about 130 thousand. Thus, during this period, their number increased by more than 2.3 times.
The second factor is the lack of natural food. The early and dry spring led to the fact that the berries in some regions ripened and crumbled earlier than usual. By autumn, when bears need to accumulate fat reserves before hibernation, there was not enough food in the forest. In the Tomsk region, the situation was further complicated by forest fires.
As previously noted by experts interviewed by "Izvestia", animals can also come to settlements due to deforestation, the development of their habitual habitats and the expansion of tourist infrastructure. However, hunger by itself does not always make a bear aggressive: it is often attracted to the smell of readily available food.
Open dumpsters, spontaneous landfills, food waste near camp sites, apiaries, pet food and fish butchering sites are becoming permanent food sources. Once a bear has been able to safely find food next to a human, the likelihood of its reappearance increases dramatically. Gradually, the animal loses its natural caution, which increases the risk of attack.
Experts recommend not leaving food waste in suburban areas and near houses, closing garbage containers and in no case feeding wild animals. In the forest, you should move in a group, talk, or make other moderate noise so as not to suddenly encounter an animal.
When encountering a bear, you should not run away, turn your back on it, approach for the sake of photography, or make sudden movements. You should remain calm and move away slowly, without blocking the animal's path. A bear with cubs, an animal near prey, as well as an animal that is not afraid of people and purposefully approaches housing are particularly dangerous.
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