At least six people have been killed in bear attacks in Russia’s Siberia over the past month, prompting prosecutors to investigate the reasons behind the attacks.
In the Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk, the investigation will now reportedly focus on whether local officials were negligent in failing to control the bear population or prevent the animals from entering populated areas.
Russia’s brown bear population has more than doubled since 1990, rising from about 130,000 to nearly 308,000 in 2026, according to the country’s natural resources ministry.
While the ministry has rejected that the number of bear attacks across Russia has increased and is in fact saying that it has remained relatively stable at around 20 to 30 a year, local officials and media have raised concerns, The Moscow Times reported.
At least 14 people have reportedly been killed in bear attacks across Russia since the beginning of this year.
Russia’s Investigative Committee said on its website that local officials had “failed to take measures to regulate the predator population or prevent them from appearing in areas inhabited by people”.
In the remote town of Podtyosovo, two people were found dead in a forest earlier this month, followed by the death of a 40-year-old factory worker who was walking through the forest on 6 September.
Earlier this month, two people were also killed while foraging for wild berries in a remote forest along the Lena River.
“One person managed to escape and report the incident,” the region’s interior ministry said.
In yet another recent incident, a 39-year-old was reportedly killed by a bear early on Wednesday.
In neighbouring Khakassia, deputy regional head Dmitry Buchenik said bears had surrounded the forest town of Abaza, which has about 10,000 residents, “on all sides”.
“It was an alarming night in Abaza. The taiga town is effectively under siege by bears,” he reportedly said. Some bears were chased away, while three were killed, including one that Mr Buchenik described was “huge”.
Authorities have reportedly killed more than 530 bears who were considered to be aggressive across Russia since spring.
According to Tass news agency, in August this year a high-profile attack took place in the village of Artybash in Altai Republic, where a bear tore into a tent at a tourist camp and dragged a 29-year-old woman from Novosibirsk into the forest.
The woman, who was reportedly an employee of the emergency situations ministry, was killed in the attack.
Earlier this month, a high-alert was declared in Krasnoyarsk, while a curfew was imposed in the Altai Republic. Tourist routes in Khakassia, Altai and Krasnoyarsk Krai were also reportedly closed.
Tatyana Pevneva, a senior researcher at the R A Shilo Novosibirsk Zoo told Tass that in autumn, bears are driven by hunger as they try to build enough fat reserves to survive the winter.
They can eat at least 10kg of food a day, mainly berries, mushrooms, nuts and carrion, according to Ms Pevneva.
The amount of fat they need depends on their size. A bear weighing around 200kg needs to build up 40-50kg of fat, while larger bears weighing 300-350kg may need up to 80kg, according to Dmitry Taranenko, a senior researcher at the Institute of Animal Systematics and Ecology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Bears that fail to gain enough fat may be unable to hibernate properly or wake during winter. These bears, locally referred to as “shatun bears”, then roam in search of food, attacking livestock and sometimes approaching humans, Ms Pevneva said.
