Russian bears treat graveyards as 'giant refrigerators'

Dr. Eugene Felikson · 10.27.2010, 07:59 PM

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010...ses-graveyards

Quote:

Russian bears treat graveyards as 'giant refrigerators'

A shortage of bears' traditional food near the Arctic Circle has forced the animals to eat human corpses, say locals

Bears are reported to be raiding graveyards in search of food in Russia's Arctic Circle republic of Komi. Photograph: Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images From a distance it resembled a rather large man in a fur coat, leaning tenderly over the grave of a loved one. But when the two women in the Russian village of Vezhnya Tchova came closer they realised there was a bear in the cemetery eating a body.
Russian bears have grown so desperate after a scorching summer they have started digging up and eating corpses in municipal cemetries, alarmed officials said today. Bears' traditional food – mushrooms, berries and the odd frog – has disappeared, they added.
The Vezhnya Tchova incident took place on Saturday in the northern republic of Komi, near the Arctic Circle. The shocked women cried in panic, frightening the bear back into the woods, before they discovered a ghoulish scene with the clothes of the bear's already-dead victim chucked over adjacent tombstones, the Russian newspaper Moskovsky Komsomelets reported.
Local people said that bears had resorted to scavenging in towns and villages - rummaging through bins, stealing garden carrots and raiding tips. A young man had been mauled in the centre of Syktyvkar, Komi's capital. "They are really hungry this year. It's a big problem. Many of them are not going to survive," said Simion Razmislov, the vice-president of Komi's hunting and fishing society.
World Wildlife Fund Russia said there had been a similar case two years ago in the town of Kandalaksha, in the northern Karelia republic. "You have to remember that bears are natural scavengers. In the US and Canada you can't leave any food in tents in national parks," said Masha Vorontsova, Director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) in Russia.
"In Karelia one bear learned how to do it [open a coffin]. He then taught the others," she added, suggesting: "They are pretty quick learners."
The only way to get rid of the bears would be to frighten them with something noisy like a firework or shoot them, she said.
According to Vorontsova, the omnivorous bears had "plenty to eat" this autumn, with foods such as fish and ants at normal levels. The bears raided graveyards because they offered a supply of easy food, she said, a bit like a giant refrigerator. "The story is horrible. Nobody wants to think about having a much loved member of their family eaten by a bear."
The bear population in Russia is relatively stable with numbers between 120,000 and 140,000. The biggest threat isn't starvation but hunting - with VIP sportsmen and wealthy gun enthusiasts wiping out most of the large male bears in Kamchatka, in Russia's Far East. Chinese poachers have killed many black bears near the border, selling their claws and other parts in markets.
The Russian government is drafting legislation to ban the killing of bears during the winter breeding season.
• This article was amended on 27 October 2010. The original referred to Masha Vorontsova of WWF Russia. This has been corrected.

jon boy · 10.27.2010, 08:57 PM

something about this makes me feel all warm.

Dr. Eugene Felikson · 10.28.2010, 12:42 PM

One of the neatest parts of this to me is how the one bear taught all the others how to open the caskets. Bear communication has really advanced with today's modern times.

!@#$%! · 10.28.2010, 12:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr. Eugene Felikson

One of the neatest parts of this to me is how the one bear taught all the others how to open the caskets. Bear communication has really advanced with today's modern times.

they've got cellphones.

this is awesome. i've always thought that burial is such a waste. this is like an alternative to the tibetan sky burial (google for great pics).

Dr. Eugene Felikson · 10.28.2010, 03:52 PM

Even creepier yet, sometimes they actually ARE cell phones!

!@#$%! · 10.28.2010, 03:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr. Eugene Felikson

Even creepier yet, sometimes they actually ARE cell phones!

my joy is now complete

EVOLghost · 10.29.2010, 08:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr. Eugene Felikson

Even creepier yet, sometimes they actually ARE cell phones!

omfg /want.

I'd love to talk into a teddy bear's crotch.

knox · 10.29.2010, 09:35 AM

is there a video of this?

Phlegmscope · 10.29.2010, 09:45 AM

Very KVLT and GRIM me thinks.

floatingslowly · 10.29.2010, 11:54 AM

RUSSIA: putting the bear back in buried.

pbradley · 10.29.2010, 02:11 PM

Seems like a good place to start a folk legend about grave-scavenging monsters.

kingcoffee · 10.29.2010, 05:54 PM

these are not bears but rather Robin Williams on another bender.

artsygrrl · 10.29.2010, 07:42 PM

...an easy supply of food, a bit like a giant refrigerator? What's so easy about digging into frozen ground, prying open a sealed casket, and knawing on a disgusting dead corpse?

Wouldn't villagers be easier to catch and eat? ... being freah meat and all, like a weiner in a peasant dress.

But, I would'nt doubt this story one frikkin bit.

10.27.2010, 08:57 PM	#2
jon boy invito al cielo Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: psycho battery Posts: 12,161	something about this makes me feel all warm. __________________ Sarcasm[A] is stating the opposite of an intended meaning especially in order to sneeringly, slyly, jest or mock a person, situation or thing \|@ <------- Euphoric brain cell just moments before expiration V _ \ / _ PING <-------- moments later / \ http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ljhxq...isruo1_500.gif
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10.28.2010, 12:42 PM	#3
Dr. Eugene Felikson invito al cielo Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 7,570	One of the neatest parts of this to me is how the one bear taught all the others how to open the caskets. Bear communication has really advanced with today's modern times.
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

10.28.2010, 03:52 PM	#5
Dr. Eugene Felikson invito al cielo Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 7,570	Even creepier yet, sometimes they actually ARE cell phones!
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

10.29.2010, 09:35 AM	#8
knox invito al cielo Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 5,255	is there a video of this? __________________
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10.29.2010, 09:45 AM	#9
Phlegmscope expwy. to yr skull Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Finland Posts: 1,246	Very KVLT and GRIM me thinks.
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10.29.2010, 11:54 AM	#10
floatingslowly invito al cielo Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 21,165	RUSSIA: putting the bear back in buried.
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10.29.2010, 02:11 PM	#11
pbradley invito al cielo Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: SoKo Posts: 10,621	Seems like a good place to start a folk legend about grave-scavenging monsters.
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10.29.2010, 05:54 PM	#12
kingcoffee expwy. to yr skull Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 1,510	these are not bears but rather Robin Williams on another bender. __________________ "No way, man! Cuz dyin' would be a stone groove! Got any messages for Jimi Hendrix?" "Yes. Pick up your puppy."
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10.29.2010, 07:42 PM	#13
artsygrrl the end of the ugly Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Grand Blanc, Michigan, USA Posts: 961	...an easy supply of food, a bit like a giant refrigerator? What's so easy about digging into frozen ground, prying open a sealed casket, and knawing on a disgusting dead corpse? Wouldn't villagers be easier to catch and eat? ... being freah meat and all, like a weiner in a peasant dress. But, I would'nt doubt this story one frikkin bit.
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