Bounding across the Siberian taiga, a brown bear is tracked by two hunters.
asserted
bear → bound → hunters
Three shots are fired, bringing down the animal into the long grass with a thud.
Resting a hand on the dead animal's fur with his rifle held close, hunter Mikhail Kondakov said he and others responded to calls from residents in the nearby settlement of Podtesovo following a fatal attack on local women.
"The bear situation in the settlement is very difficult at the moment," Kondakov told Reuters.
asserted
Kondakov → fire → Reuters
"Bears have increasingly been coming directly into the settlement.
asserted
Bears → come → settlement
This year we had a tragedy — two women who went mushroom picking were killed by a man-eating bear.
asserted
who → have → bear
We decided to start hunting bears because there are so many of them."
The issue spans the entire country.
asserted
issue → decide → country
State media reported that at least 22 people have been killed in bear attacks since spring, leading the Russian government to draft emergency measures last month to control populations spiralling out of hand in certain regions.
asserted
people → report → regions
Official figures show the brown bear population has more than doubled in three decades to 308,000, driven in part by shorter, milder winters.
asserted
population → show → winters
Experts quoted in local media say a dry, early spring starved bears of berries, driving them further afield for food, while uncollected waste and ignored safety rules have further drawn animals to human areas.
asserted
waste → quote → areas
In Krasnoyarsk, the Siberian region where Kondakov is hunting and which is home to nearly 27,000 bears, investigators said last month that they had opened a criminal case into the local environment ministry, accusing it of failing to keep bear numbers under control, negligence which they said had led to the deaths of seven people in September alone.
asserted
they → hunt → September
In Podtesovo, a settlement of around 3,500 people perched on the right bank of the River Yenisei, a simple wooden cross stands on the grave of Zoya Gubanova along with a colour photograph of the late pensioner.
asserted
cross → perch → pensioner
Gubanova, 67, was killed on August 31 in a bear attack while out gathering mushrooms, a popular Russian pastime.
asserted
Gubanova → kill → mushrooms
Chatting outside her wooden house, Yulia Markova, a local resident, says the situation has become intolerable.
asserted
situation → chat → house
"We have been living in fear for almost two months now, we cannot even go out for a walk in the evening.
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we → live → evening
People are afraid to let their children go out alone.
asserted
children → let → ?
And who knows what its intentions are, what kind of mood it is in when it comes here.
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it → know → mood
Maybe it is simply curious, or maybe it is looking for its next victim," she said.
asserted
she → look → victim
Markova said that locals, like bear attack victim Gubanova, had not fully understood the danger posed by bears and that people had initially felt sorry for them because they clearly did not have enough nuts and berries to eat this year.
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they → say → nuts
But she said hearts had hardened after the bears started coming into the settlement in large numbers.
asserted
bears → say → numbers
"We have never seen an invasion like this before," said Markova.
asserted
Markova → see → this
Watching her daughter relax at the local playground, pregnant mother Valeriya Efremova said heightened bear activity had changed locals' lives.
asserted
activity → watch → lives
"
When the bears started coming out of the forest, we restricted outings as much as possible, even to the park.
asserted
we → start → park
It was really frightening because bears were even coming into the park where children play.
asserted
children → come → park
Going out after dark was absolutely out of the question.
asserted
Going → go → question
Even now, although the number of sightings seems to have fallen, at least according to the information we have, you still walk around looking over your shoulder," she said.
uncertain
she → seem → shoulder
Nikolai Zhilinsky, another local, said people were waiting for the weather to get colder and for the bears to hibernate, but he said people would still be worried even when that happened.
asserted
that → say → ?
"We are not sure that all of the bears will hibernate.
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all → hibernate → bears
There are too many of them and they are hungry," he said.
asserted
he → be → them
He was afraid to go fishing in his boat in case he was attacked by a bear, he added.
asserted
he → go → bear
Vladimir Vagin, another local, said people feared they could be attacked in their own gardens.
uncertain
they → say → gardens
He pointed to an area near a raspberry bush in his own garden where he believed a bear had been.
asserted
bear → point → garden
Driving through the settlement after dark, he noted how empty the streets were.
asserted
streets → drive → dark
"People don't go out because they are afraid," he said.
asserted
he → go → ?
The Aporia
