Russia moves to control bear population after 22 people killed in attacks

Russia is devising urgent measures to control its population of brown bears after at least 22 people killed in attacks.

The country's number of brown bears has more than doubled in the last 30 years to 308,000, partly due to shorter, milder winters.

As a result, Moscow said it would consider lifting hunting quotas on brown bears, as well as establishing regional population limits, giving local authorities extra powers to control their numbers, and identifying regions that need more financing to tackle the problem.

It follows a spate of attacks, with a woman in Siberia - home to nearly 27,000 bears - mauled to death by a bear in her garden last week.

Investigators in the city of Krasnoyarsk also said last week that they had opened a criminal case into the local environment ministry, accusing it of negligence that led to the deaths of seven people in September.

In one of the most high-profile attacks this year, a bear attacked two tourists in their tent in the Altai region in August.

It dragged one of the tourists, a 29-year-old woman, out of the tent, killed her, and then buried her in the forest.

And in the Siberian region of Tuva, ice hockey coach Alexander Kuzmenko - father of NHL player Andrei Kuzmenko - was killed by a bear while on a fishing trip last month.

"It is clear that as the population grows, so too does the number of problems," deputy prime minister Dmitry Patrushev said.

"Systemic measures are needed to ensure that humans and animals can coexist safely and to maintain the necessary balance."

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Russia's environment ministry has sought to play down the spate of attacks, telling the RBC news outlet: "In recent years, around 20 to 30 cases of bear attacks have been recorded annually.

"The only abnormal spike was in 2014, when there were 166 cases. The thing is, nowadays everyone has a smartphone, and information spreads quickly via the internet and social media, which creates the impression that the problem is widespread."

(c) Sky News 2026: Russia moves to control bear population after 22 people killed in attacks