Before Dying, Wounded Bear Kills Hunter Who Shot It

A bear that sustained a gunshot wound attacked and killed the hunter who shot it by crushing his skull before dying nearby. 

The incident took place in the Tulun district of the Irkutsk region of Russia, according to Newsweek, which cited Russian news agency Interfax in a report published Wednesday. 

The unnamed hunter, 62, was positioned on a platform when he fired the shot that wounded the bear. He then made his way down from the platform where the bear attacked and killed him. The hunter's body was discovered after a missing report was filed when he did not return home.

A search party was launched to patrol the forest. His corpse was discovered with claw and fang wounds and, according to the report, his skull had been crushed. The bear's carcass was found about 54 yards away from the man.

"The mortally wounded predator managed to inflict an injury from which the hunter died," the regional office of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs told Interfax.

According to Newsweek, there are an estimated 13,000 wild bears in the Irkutsk region. While there have been 264 recorded attacks in greater Russia between 1991 and 2017, bears by nature are not aggressive unless they feel provoked or vulnerable. 

"Bears are normally shy, retiring animals that have very little desire to interact with humans," the Get Bear Smart Society noted on its website. "Unless they are forced to be around humans to be near a food source, they usually choose to avoid us."

The organization said bears have a "critical space," which is the area around them that they may defend. If a person enters a bear's critical space, it will act, which means it will either run away or be aggressive. The organization further noted that black bears tend to be less aggressive and more tolerable of people. 

"They often live near human settlements, whereas grizzly bears prefer to stay away from human settlements and are often extirpated from heavily used or populated areas," the organization explained. 

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