
The number of bears in Kamchatka could decrease by about 20% in 2024 due to low salmon arrivals and forced shootings of predators due to the threat to people, especially in the middle part of the peninsula and in parts of the west coast, but there is no official data confirming the decline yet.
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The official number of bears in Kamchatka is up to 25 thousand individuals. In 2024, there was a low supply of salmon, which could affect the food supply of bears, and the number of cases of predators approaching people increased, which led to forced shootings.
The number of bears in Kamchatka could decrease by about 20% due to low fish numbers and forced shootings in 2024.
A particularly noticeable reduction in the number of bears was observed in the middle part of Kamchatka and in certain areas of the western coast.
The official number of bears on the peninsula is up to 25 thousand, although there is no official data confirming the decline in numbers yet.
P.-KAMCHATSKY, September 12 – RIA Novosti. The number of bears in Kamchatka could have decreased by about 20% due to low numbers of fish in 2024 and forced shootings of predators due to access to people, but the official population estimate remains the same, Vladimir Gordienko, a researcher at the Kronotsky State Nature Reserve and game biologist, told RIA Novosti.
“In my opinion, noticeably, by about 20 percent, probably, the number of bears on the peninsula should have decreased by the end of 2024 due to low salmon runs and forced shootings due to the threat to people,” Gordienko said.
According to the scientist, a particularly noticeable reduction was observed in 2024–2025 in the middle part of Kamchatka and in certain areas of the western coast, where the number could have decreased by a third or half.

On September 10, an oil pipeline leaked at a Pemex facility in the Gulf of Mexico 46 nautical miles north of Ciudad del Carmen. Mexican authorities activated an emergency plan, sending in the navy, air force and 255 military personnel to contain and recover the hydrocarbons. The work is being carried out under the supervision of ASEA.

The Kuril Lake basin in Kamchatka remains one of the most favorable places for bears, despite problems with the food supply in other areas of the peninsula, said game biologist Vladimir Gordienko from the Kronotsky State Reserve. He noted that in the South Kamchatka Nature Reserve the number of bears could have dropped sharply in 2019, but then began to recover, and the overall population in Kamchatka, according to his estimates, could have decreased by 20% due to lack of fish food in 2024.

In the Krasnoyarsk Territory, hunters are given a reward of 36,500 rubles for hunting one brown bear due to the high number of the species (25–32 thousand individuals) and the increase in cases of animals entering populated areas (more than 1 thousand calls since the beginning of the year). The payment is due when obtaining permits for hunting in hunting areas, with the exception of protected areas of federal significance. Shooting within populated areas remains the right of law enforcement agencies only.

Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Construction and Housing and Communal Services Svetlana Razvorotneva said that the problem of storing construction waste is most acute in Moscow and St. Petersburg, noting frequent requests on this issue and Moscow’s unsuccessful attempt to promote a federal bill due to the different situation in the regions.

The Russian Ministry of Natural Resources is collecting proposals from regions to improve legislation in the field of regulating the number of brown bears against the backdrop of increasingly frequent visits of predators to people in late summer and early September 2026. The governor of the Magadan region, Sergei Nosov, proposed changing the rules for regulating the number of bears, taking into account population growth and seasonal feeding, which led to the closure of tourist routes and the shooting of dangerous animals.

In Buryatia, state hunting inspectors and hunting teams eliminated 12 bears entering populated areas within 24 hours. A total of 115 individuals were regulated during the period. In Zakamensky and Barguzinsky districts, two fatal cases of bear attacks on people were recorded.