The bear wandered into the big city: how to survive in this situation

Kostroma for some time became the “bear capital” of Russia. And all thanks to Toptygin, who gave himself a tour of the regional center. Fortunately, this raid of the predator deep into the city blocks ended successfully – neither people nor the animal itself were injured. However, such a happy ending, alas, is not always the case. The expert commented on the incident and gave advice on what to do in case of an unexpected encounter with a wild animal wandering into the “stone jungle”.

Now famous for its “recklessness”, the bear managed to make a commotion in several places. In the morning, residents of the suburban village of Aferovo noticed him, and by evening, the restless clubfoot, who was shooed by the villagers, reached Kostroma and arranged a promenade through the streets of the city. Specialists, called by eyewitnesses of the incident, managed to put the animal to sleep by shooting it with a special dart with sleeping pills. However, before turning off, the frightened bear managed to climb a tree and fell asleep already there, on the branches. Emergencies Ministry employees had to use ladders to get to the animal and lower it to the ground. After that, the lost predator was taken to the forest.

We asked Alexander Lisitsin, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the United Edition of Hunting Editions, to comment on the Kostroma epic.

– I want to emphasize right away that the appearance of a bear in the city is a serious emergency. A real predator has wandered into densely populated residential areas! This is a direct threat to the health and even life of people. It’s good that the beast in this case did not show aggression. I am sure that there was a young bear, a maximum of two years old, since he managed, sensing danger, to climb a tree to a height of 15 meters. An adult animal would not be able to do this. Of course, a hardened bear could do serious things!

– Alas, bear attacks in settlements happen from time to time. What do you advise to do in case of an unexpected meeting with a clubfoot?

– In short: get away from him as soon as possible, hide behind some kind of insurmountable barrier for the beast. You can lock yourself in the car, jump into the entrance … And after that, immediately call the police or the Ministry of Emergencies.

– You say – leave as soon as possible, but you know that you can’t turn your back on the beast …

– There may be different tricks. Like any large predator, the bear is sensitive to changing situations. Yes, a frankly stampede can provoke him to aggression. But there is a way to prevent it. If a person suddenly visually became almost twice as large for an animal, this will most likely frighten the animal, make it stop. And you can increase your dimensions, for example, by straightening up to your full height, spreading the skirts of your coat wide to the sides, spreading your arms …

– I have read about cases when a person escaped from a bear attack by pretending to be dead …

– Can you imagine how strong the psyche of a person who dared to do such an act should be? You need to lie down without screaming, without moving, when a huge fur monster comes close, sniffs, or even pushes you with its nose … I think that among the townspeople there is hardly one person in a hundred thousand who is able to withstand this.

Another thing is that those who are accustomed to living surrounded by wild nature feel at home there. Then you can get out of a dangerous situation in other ways. For example, when a bear approaches, tear off your jacket or backpack and throw it in the face of the beast. In the meantime, he will be distracted by this, will sniff the thing or try it on the tooth, the person will have time to pick up a gun and shoot.

And yet, returning to the current adventures of this Kostroma clubfoot. In no case should you try to enter into communication with a wild animal. Only a specialist can determine by its appearance what is on the mind of the beast. Are his ears flattened? How does he move, snort? .. For an inexperienced person, this is a lottery that can end at best in a hospital, and at worst – in a cemetery.

The seriousness of the situation is confirmed by a similar case with Toptygin’s invasion of urban areas. This happened on one of the May nights of 2020 in Yaroslavl. There, a bear walking around residential areas attacked a lone passerby. The young man was saved only by the resourcefulness of the driver of a passenger car that happened to be nearby. Seeing what was happening, he began to give loud beeps, flashing headlights. The bear was frightened of such a “doomsday” and ran away. However, before that, he managed to bite a person in the thigh and scratch him with his claws. The same rescuer-motorist took the victim to the hospital. The culprit of the incident, a young bear, was then tracked down by the huntsmen and, seeing his inappropriate behavior, they were forced to shoot him.