The director of the reserve explained the increasing frequency of encounters with bears in the Krasnoyarsk Territory

Director of the Central Siberian Nature Reserve and Honored Ecologist of the Russian Federation Pavel Kochkarev said that the increasing frequency of encounters between people and bears in the Krasnoyarsk Territory is associated not so much with the number of predators, but with the availability of food near populated areas. On Radio KP, he explained that the cities and towns of the region are surrounded by unauthorized landfills, where animals easily find food.

“Every city, every village is surrounded by a bunch of landfills, where there is free food for this animal. Naturally, it is economically and physiologically advisable for any living organism to go where it is easier to get food,” Kochkarev explained.

He cited the behavior of motorists who stop along the road and feed the bears, teaching them to return to people, as an additional factor. The expert also pointed out the loss of the system of hunting societies and the insufficient effectiveness of the current hunting rules: a 30-day permit may not be enough to prepare bait and storage, and in fact only 8 to 18 percent of the stipulated production limit is taken.

Kochkarev emphasized that payments for hunted bears can be only one of the measures, and a long-term solution requires cleaning up landfills, restoring hunting grounds and responsible behavior of people. With the onset of stable snow cover, most bears will retreat to dens, and the number of encounters will decrease, with the exception of connecting rods.