Hunter kills the bear which bit his wife’s head off

A horrifying incident has recently occurred in Yakutia. A  bear invaded the house of Andrei Merkuriyev, a resident of the village of Iyengra. Merkuriyev’s wife was alone in the house. Merkuriyev, a professional hunter, was away in the woods checking his traps at the time, Sakha News reports.

Photo: Hunter kills the bear which bit his wife’s head off

The tracks near the house indicate that a woman tried to escape but failed. The bear caught her and killed her. The police found a decapitated body of the woman several meters away from the house.

The bear seemed to be lingering about the gory scene when Merkuriyev got back from the woods. He ran for his life into the nearby forest. The predator was chasing after the hunter, breathing down his neck. Merkuriyev had to turn around and confront the furious beast. He took out his knife and stuck it a few times into the bear.

Then the hunter stumbled and fell down on the icy ground. The bear was quick to leap on him. The man’s knitted hat and part of his ear were gone within the next moment. But the hunter managed to drive his knife into the heart of the beast while wriggling to break free. The bear’s grip loosened and Merkuriyev dealt another deadly blow.

The hunter used his axe to finish off the bear. Merkuriyev was later taken to hospital. He is in a stable condition now. The local media reported that Merkuriyev and his wife had worked for a geological party based in the above area.

According to results of the bear’s postmortem, the age of the animal was between 4 to 7 years. The bear was found to have no subcutaneous fat in his body. Experts indicate that the lack of fat can be explained by this year’s rather poor crop of mushrooms, berries and pine kernels in the woods. Consequently, the bear could not get enough food to gain a normal weight and lie low in his den for the winter.

The tragedy is the latest of three incidents involving bears showing their hostile instincts against residents of the Neryungrinski district. However, no one has been killed in the attacks until the latest case in the village of Iyengra. The hungry bears were reported to chase after the reindeer and break into the houses. Some locals had to climb the trees in panic, and reindeer tenders had to shoot at violent predators on several occasions.

Lilia Subin
Pravda.ru

Translated by Guerman Grachev