Completely overwhelmed: why bears are no longer afraid to enter towns and villages
In Russia, security measures are being strengthened due to the release of bears to people. In Tuva, a high-alert regime was introduced in 11 districts at once, in the Irkutsk region it was recommended to do the same, and six tourist routes were closed in the Baikal National Park. Patrols are being increased, access to forests is being restricted, and the number of predators is being better regulated. Why bears are increasingly approaching populated areas and how the authorities are trying to reduce the threat — in the "Izvestia" material.
Man-eating bears
Over the past month, according to media reports, bears have killed six people in different regions of Russia. On September 7, in the Zakamensky district of Buryatia, an animal attacked a man who, along with his wife, was walking to a bus stop and on the way turned into the forest to check on livestock. The woman managed to call for help, the bear was scared away. The victim was taken to the hospital, but it was not possible to save him.
On the same day, the district authorities announced restrictions on holding children's, school and sports events in the forest area due to the high activity of predators. According to their data, by September 7, bears had been seen with humans about 80 times. Fearing new attacks, a mass shooting of animals began in Buryatia: the regional nature supervision service reported the destruction of 158 predators that posed a threat to humans. ""The head of the republic, Alexei Tsydenov, stated on his VKontakte page that this year there had been an "abnormally large number of bear exits to populated areas."
A bear attacked a man in the neighboring Irkutsk region. At the end of last week, in the Kirensky district, a predator picked up a pensioner who went to pick mushrooms. Relatives found the body of a man near a forest road, there was an animal nearby. Hunters eliminated the bear, the press service of the regional police headquarters reported.
In the Krasnoyarsk Territory, in the Yeniseysky district, on August 31, a bear killed two retired women who were also picking mushrooms in the forest. In early September, a predator picked up a 40-year-old man in the Motyginsky district, the Investigative Committee for the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the Republic of Khakassia reported. The most notorious case occurred in the middle of August in Altai: a bear pulled a girl out of a tent and killed her near a tourist camp.
It's not just people who suffer from attacks. Bears visit livestock — such cases are reported by local publications. In Arkhangelsk, residents found traces of the presence of the beast in the cemetery "South Maymaks". The city administration told "Izvestia" that they were aware of the situation: a bear-watching tower had been installed in the cemetery.
Introduction of restrictions and closure of trails
In total, according to the latest data from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, there are about 308 thousand brown bears in Russia, the agency previously told "Izvestia". Since the 1990s, their number has increased 2.3 times.
In late summer, after a series of deadly attacks in the regions, payments for animal prey were increased, patrols were stepped up and restrictive measures were introduced. But that didn't stop the predators, and then the authorities moved on.
For example, in Tuva, where 10 cases of bears entering villages and shepherd camps have been recorded over the past week, a high-alert regime has been introduced for operational agencies. In 11 municipal districts, mass events were restricted in the forest area and the surrounding area. In addition, a curfew has been imposed and citizens' access to the forest is temporarily closed. The order was adopted on September 11, the press service of the regional government reported.
The Governor of the Irkutsk Region, Igor Kobzev, recommended that the mayors of municipalities introduce a high-alert regime. A working group has been set up in the region to regulate the number of animals. According to local authorities, 10 predators have been killed in the region over the past 24 hours, and 146 in total during the season.
— We have to admit that the situation is difficult. Last week, a tragedy happened in the Kirensky district — a bear picked up a mushroom picker. The predator was eliminated. Every day, the dispatch service receives several dozen reports of bears near populated areas," Igor Kobzev wrote on September 15 on the "VKontakte" social network.
Earlier, restrictions have already been introduced in Ust-Ilimsk and Bratsk. The administration of Ust-Ilimsk reported that more than 22 thousand bears live in the Angara region.
In the Baikal National Park, six popular tourist routes have been closed since the beginning of September due to the release of brown birds to people. According to the Federal State Budgetary Institution "Zapovednoe Pribaikalie", bears are especially active along the Great Baikal Trail, on the Circum-Baikal Railway and in the Tazheran steppe. At the last location, cases of attacks on cattle that were freely grazing were recorded.
— Previously, due to the release of bears, the routes were not massively closed, but only limited visits to individual sites. For example, if a dead animal was found nearby that could not be quickly removed, you had to wait for the bear to finish and leave. ""There have been cases when a young animal went out to the camp of tourists, did not react to attempts to scare it away and continued to stay nearby," Lada Azizova, a spokeswoman for the Federal State Budgetary Institution "Zapovednoe Pribaikalie", told Izvestia.
However, the situation changed at the end of August.: Reports of encounters with bears and attacks on livestock began to arrive more frequently. After the meeting of the operational headquarters, it was decided to close the whole cluster "Circum-Baikal Railway and Olkhinsky Plateau". Later, two routes in this area were opened after observations. But soon new cases of predators were recorded on the Bolshaya Baikal Trail and the route along the coast of the Tajeran steppe — they also had to be temporarily closed, Lada Azizova said.
A high-alert regime has been introduced in six regions of the Siberian Federal District: in the Krasnoyarsk and Altai Territories, in the republics of Altai and Khakassia, in the Irkutsk and Kemerovo regions. Similar measures are in effect in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky due to the increased number of cases of bears entering the city.
In Khakassia, the authorities are discussing the need to introduce a high-alert regime throughout the republic and use special means to track down an animal on approaches to populated areas, the Ministry of Natural Resources of the region reported. A total of 79 bears were killed in Khakassia.
— Over the weekend, 12 individuals were neutralized in the republic, mainly within the borders of Abaza and Sayanogorsk. The tense situation remains in the Tashtypsky district. It is clear that animals come out of the taiga not from a good life, but from lack of food. There have not been such mass gatherings for 30 years," Dmitry Buchenik, deputy head of Khakassia, wrote on his "VKontakte" page.
As follows from the message, shooting remains "the only possible measure of population regulation." At the same time, a change in the nature of predator exits is noted in the region: if previously mostly young individuals approached settlements, adult bears and females with cubs have begun to appear there in recent days.
Well-fed and aggressive
— The bears hunted by hunters this season are quite well-fed. Their fat layer is 4-5 fingers thick. This means that hunger is not the reason for their aggressive behavior. Rather, on the contrary. The fact that animals began to enter villages more often and attack people is a consequence of the increase in the number and density of the animal population. Now it is not uncommon to meet bears with two or three cubs, whereas before one or two were the norm," Alexander Savchenko, head of the Department of Hunting Resource Management and Conservation at Siberian Federal University, told "Izvestia".
The reason for this behavior is not only the growing number of bears, but also the fact that there are more suitable habitats for them. After large-scale deforestation in Siberia in the 1970s and 1980s, a young forest with a large number of raspberries, bird cherry trees and other shrubs grew in these territories — a convenient food base for predators. In the Krasnoyarsk Territory to the north of the capital, bears have already mastered more than 350 thousand hectares of abandoned mowing and fields. Global warming has also become an additional factor.
The growing number of bears affects not only the frequency of their encounters with humans, but also the behavior of the animals themselves. With a high population density, the habitual social structure is disrupted, and competition for territory and resources increases. This can provoke aggression, conflicts between individuals, disruptions in reproductive behavior, and even an increase in cases of cannibalism.
An additional factor is chronic stress, which, in conditions of crowded habitat, can lead to changes in the functioning of the body and the behavior of animals. The risks are also increased by the rapid spread of diseases and parasites among bears.
At the same time, favorable conditions for animals do not happen every year. As Alexander Savchenko noted, in some periods of 4-6 years there may not be a good harvest of pine nuts — this situation has developed this year. When there is less of the usual food in the taiga, bears go in search of food closer to humans: to villages, summer cottages, camp sites and landfills.
The nature of the meetings is also influenced by the changing landscape around the settlements. In recent decades, large fields and meadows have disappeared next to them, which used to serve as a natural buffer zone between people and the forest. In their place, thickets of young forest and shrubs appeared, which were occupied by bears. As a result, predators began to live more often in the immediate vicinity of houses and agricultural land.
According to Alexander Savchenko, to reduce the threat, it is necessary to manage the number of bears near populated areas and popular tourist routes. In particular, the expert believes that the regions should be given more powers to regulate the population. In addition, it is necessary to resolve the issue of providing weapons to specialists working in the taiga: hunters, foresters and expedition participants.
Another measure is the elimination of food waste dumps and the use of the experience of foreign national parks, where tourist routes are equipped with special places for storing food inaccessible to bears.
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