Featured Image Credit: EAST2WEST
Topics: Animals, Russia, World News
Gerrard Kaonga
Warning: This article contains content that some readers may find distressing
A Russian man was eaten to the bone by a bear he had adopted and kept on his property in a shocking incident.
Hunter Sergey Grigoriyev, 41, adopted a brown bear in 2014 after he had found it as a cub.
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But only four years later would police find his skeletal remains on his property after his family had reported him missing.
“We called him but he did not answer,’ a neighbor said when concerns grew for the hunter. “When his relatives came, they saw a bear wandering around the plot. There was a dog with them.
“It attacked the bear, giving the people the opportunity to escape in the car.”
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Police also received reports that his property in Ozersk, Chelyabinsk region, Russia, contained the bear on the loose, as it had escaped from its cage.
When authorities realized the situation, the brown bear was shot dead to prevent any further incidents to anyone in the area. They were able to confirm the bear had also eaten and killed one of the dogs on the property.
“Officers used their service weapons to kill the dangerous animal,” said a police statement. “As a result of the measures taken, the bear does not pose a threat to citizens’ lives and health any longer.”
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Senior detective Alexey Petrov also spoke to the media about the incident and said: “The cage was open. The animal was walking around behaving aggressively.
“On the plot we found the skeletal remains of a man.”
Despite adopting the animal, it is not clear what condition the bear, named Vorchun or Grumble, was kept in while with Grigoriyev.
When he adopted the cub, he also adopted another cub but eventually ended up giving it to ‘baiting station’ – where hunting dogs are trained with live predators. These stations have a reputation for poor treatment of animals.
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Social media users certainly questioned what conditions the hunter kept the bear in.
“People who wanna be personal with wild animals need education,” wrote one Instagram user.
“A wild animals will do what wild animals do. OK bye,” wrote another. “Wild animal is always a wild animal, domestication isn’t immediate, it happens in generations,”
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“Lesson for animal lovers (only fanatic ones)- Love animals but respect their space and nature as the wild. Don't humanize them or cuddle,” someone else said.
Friends of Grigoriyev also had their reservations about him keeping the wild bear and raising it, as the bear had previously attacked him - but he refused to listen when they said he should get rid of it.