There is nothing funny about work in Arctic. And a group of Russians at an Arctic weather station felt it on their own back. They spent two nerve-wracking days hiding in an attic while waiting for permission from Moscow to shoot a hungry polar bear rampaging through their house.
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December 15, 2006Insomniac bears are roaming the forests of southwestern Siberia scaring local people.
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November 16, 2006Swedish wildlife filmmaker Erik Fernstrom was in Russia shooting a film when he was attacked by a bear. The incident occurred during the production this summer of a film called “The true face of the bearâ€, The Local online daily reports.
Fernstrom’s film is based on scientific research about the logic behind bears’ behavior. Armed with this knowledge he knew how to react when a brown bear suddenly turned on him and his crew.
“Nine out of ten times brown bears attack just to scare you. We just stood our ground,†he told the paper.
“Of course I was scared. But the bear will only attack if he is wounded or protecting his prey. He kept coming at us. He was pushing the limits. But so were we. He came to within 5-10 meters of us.â€
Fernstrom also described how bears often follow in the tracks of berry and mushroom pickers just to have a look at what is going on.
“They get quite close. They are curious about who you are,†he said.
But they rarely show themselves. Attacks are infrequent and casualties rare. But a wounded bear will not hesitate to strike.
“A hunter in the north of Sweden was killed by a brown bear a couple of years ago. The hunter’s dogs scared the bear out of its den. It seems that the man then wounded the bear and was attacked and killed.
â€The story has been in the news recently because the man’s family have tried to get compensation from the state. Apparently you can get compensation for a dog that has been injured or killed by a bear. But you can’t get compensation for a family member,“ Fernstrom said.
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October 27, 2006A spokeswoman for King Juan Carlos said Russian reports that he brought down a tame and inebriated bear during a visit in August were “ridiculousâ€, AP reports.
The palace confirmed that the king, who is known to enjoy hunting, was in Russia at the time, but it said he had not killed any bear, let alone one that was fed vodka-spiked honey.
In Russia, meanwhile, Vyacheslav Pozgalyov, the governor of the Vologda region, has begun an inquiry into how a bear named Mitrofan met its end.
The newspaper Kommersant reported that the region’s deputy hunting chief, Sergei Starostin, had contended that the “good natured†bear was taken from its home at a local vacation resort and “generously fed†honey mixed with vodka before being released near where the king was to be hunting.
“His highness, Juan Carlos, took Mitrofan out with one shot,†Mr. Starostin said, according to Kommersant.
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October 20, 2006
Authorities are probing a violation of hunting regulations in the Central Russian region of Vologda where Juan Carlos I, King of Spain, allegedly shot a harmless pet bear this August.
Hunting was a part of the entertainment program for Juan Carlos, who paid a visit to the region in summer, Interfax reports.
However local media, citing a hunting watchdog, claim that the bear the monarch killed at the hunt was by no means a wild beast, but a tame, timid creature made drunk.
Organizers of the royal hunt allegedly took the good-natured bear called Mitrofan to the hunting base in a cage.
The animal was given honey mixed with vodka and forced to go out into the field. The heavy clumsy bear was easy prey for Juan Carlos, who killed it with one shot.
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October 19, 2006
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