In Kamchatka, the bears who survived the famine year will be counted in the spring
The regional authorities plan to count bears near the Avacha agglomeration in the spring – the cities of Yelizovo, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Vilyuchinsk and other nearby settlements – in order to determine how many predators need to be shot, RIA KAMCHATKA-INFORM reports.
“Let’s see how many bears there are, because spring is the best time. If there are a large number of bears, work will be carried out with hunting users who are in the lands in the adjacent territories,” said Roman Vasilevsky, Deputy Chairman of the regional government.
In the future, a decision will be made: either to increase the production of animals, or to take other regulatory measures.
“It happens that a lot of bears go into hibernation in the fall, but fewer wake up. This is due to various animal diseases. You can’t make a decision today without counting the beast, because it’s a symbol of Kamchatka, and you need to keep a balance,” the deputy chairman explained.
He also noted that the possibility of building shelters for cubs in the territory of the region is being considered, where they can be kept until they are released into the wild or for transfer to zoos.
This year, the settlements of the region have experienced an unprecedented invasion of bears. They were driven to towns and villages by lack of food. The year was unstable and lean for cones, berries and mushrooms.
A high-alert regime was introduced in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky from September 27 to October 11. After the relative normalization of the situation with predators, it was canceled. But the animals still periodically visited the residential areas of the regional center, and operatives went out to shoot dangerous animals.
The authorities did not provide official statistics on how many animals that posed a danger to humans were shot this year. But the number clearly exceeded 300 predators.
Two people died as a result of a bear attack in the region. On July 25, a bear picked up a 38-year-old man in the forest near the village of Thermalny in the Yelizovsky district. On December 9, a 46-year-old deputy general director of a gold mining company died near the Ozernovsky shift settlement.
Two cases of attacks have also been officially registered, when men miraculously managed to fend off the animals. A summer resident in Yelizovsky district was seriously injured and was hospitalized. A skier in the Milkovsky district escaped with deep wounds on his arm.
The fatal attack in December was the work of the connecting rod fangs. Many bears that did not gain fat reserves during the hungry year did not go into hibernation. Residents of Kamchatka periodically post videos of clubfoot running near populated areas.
Today, information appeared on social networks that in the Northern Koryaks of Yelizovsky district, a hungry bear picked up dogs in the courtyard of a house. The owners drove the beast away with a flare, a shovel and a chainsaw. The old man was shot dead in the early morning by the rangers who arrived at the scene. But severely injured dogs may not survive.
Photo by Alexey Maslov (archive).