A brown bear tore through a remote village in Russia’s Primorsky region on Monday, September 23, 2024, leaving two men and dozens of dogs dead in its wake.
The bear broke into the home of an 87-year-old father and his 56-year-old son after slaughtering 35 stray dogs at a nearby shelter. The attack resulted in the gruesome deaths of both men, sparking fear and a rapid response from authorities.
The incident occurred in Luchegorsk, a village near Russia’s southeastern border, known for its proximity to the wilderness. The bear, believed to be suffering from rabies or a severe injury, had shown increasingly aggressive behavior in the days leading up to the fatal mauling. Bear expert Sergey Aramilev commented, “A healthy bear would definitely not do this. It would not even come close to a populated area.” This unusual behavior and the bear’s apparent malnourishment suggested something was severely wrong with the animal.
The bear’s rampage began when it bypassed the flimsy wooden fence of a nearby shelter, where the stray dogs were chained in their kennels. Shelter director Olga Zamyshlyaeva described the devastation: “The bear came in at night, and 35 dogs died. We don’t have security here. The dogs are kept in kennels.” The shelter, located in a forested area, had no real defenses against such an attack.
Following the attack on the dogs, the bear entered the home of the father and son, who could not defend themselves against the powerful predator. The men’s bodies were found later, showing signs of severe mauling. Hunting inspectors and local police were quick to respond, blocking off the area and implementing a curfew to protect other residents from further attacks.
The bear was located and killed by inspectors following a short search. Officials suggested that the animal’s condition had pushed it into a desperate and hazardous state.
Bear attacks in Russia, particularly in its more remote and bear-populated areas like Siberia and the Pacific Coast, are a significant concern. Russia is home to roughly half of the world’s brown bear population, and human-bear encounters have been documented for decades. Between 1932 and 2017, over 338 incidents of bear attacks on humans were recorded, with fatalities and serious injuries occurring across the country.
Most incidents are concentrated in areas where people gather wild resources or hike, often during the late summer and autumn when bears are hyperphagic, storing fat for hibernation. Lone bears, rather than females with cubs, are often responsible for fatal attacks. While some bears may be food-conditioned, most predatory attacks occur without signs of habituation to human food sources.