Russia Culls Over 3,000 Bears After Deadly Attacks as Sightings Alarm Public

More than 3,000 bears have been culled across Russia following a series of deadly attacks, even as the annual number of bear attacks nationwide holds steady at roughly 20 to 30. Recent maulings have nonetheless stirred alarm among the public. In Siberia's Irkutsk region, 36-year-old Daria Tyurneva stopped her car after spotting what appeared to be a brown shape in a tree and discovered a bear cub several metres up a branch. She kept the engine running and stayed in her gear, reasoning that the mother might be close by, and recorded phone video of the animal. Her encounter was among several recent sightings that have unsettled Russians. The culling figure and the unchanged attack rate were reported alongside the Irkutsk sighting.