Prosecutors revealed Wednesday that six people had died from bear attacks in Russia’s Krasnoyarsk region within a month. A local official has since issued a warning about a neighboring town that he described as under siege.
The attacks have drawn attention to a growing problem. Russia’s brown bear population has more than doubled since 1990, from around 130,000 to almost 308,000 in 2026, according to Russia’s natural resources ministry. Despite that growth, the number of bear attacks across Russia has remained constant at around 20 to 30 a year, according to the ministry.
Fatalities in Krasnoyarsk
Earlier this month, two elderly people were discovered dead from apparent animal attacks in a forest close to the isolated town of Podtyosovo. Local reports say a 40-year-old factory worker died after wandering through the woods on Sept. 6.
A tally by The Moscow Times reports two deaths among those who went into a remote forest along the banks of the Lena River to gather wild berries. A single person survived and reported the incident, according to the regional branch of Russia’s Interior Ministry.
A 39-year-old logger guarding machinery was killed by a bear in the forest early Wednesday, investigators said.
The Siege in Abaza
On Wednesday, Dmitry Buchenik, deputy head of the neighboring Khakassia region, reported that the forest town of Abaza, which has a population of roughly 10,000, had been surrounded by bears “on all sides.”.
“It was an alarming night in Abaza. The taiga town is effectively under siege by bears,” he said.
“Some of the animals were chased off, but three were killed (one of them was huge),” he added.
A bear was said to be swimming across a river beside the town, per unverified social media videos. A separate video reportedly showed a trio of bears leaping across a road in front of cars.
What Officials Have Done
Prosecutors opened a probe into criminal negligence, accusing local officials of failing to control bear numbers. Local officials “failed to take measures to regulate the predator population or prevent them from appearing in areas inhabited by people,” the Investigative Committee of Russia’s sparsely populated Krasnoyarsk and Khakassia regions said on its website.
In the far north of Siberia, a rare attack involving a polar bear left three members of a family hurt, including a child, according to officials who reported on the incident earlier this year.
| Location | Fatalities |
|---|---|
| Krasnoyarsk region | 6 killed |
| Khakassia region | None reported |
| Year | Bear Population | Attacks |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | ~130,000 | Constant |
| 2026 | ~308,000 | Constant |
The numbers show a definite trend: bear counts keep going up, attacks hold steady, and settlements grow more isolated by wildlife. The real test is whether local leaders will take action before the death toll climbs higher.
See the video the story is built around at CBS News.
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