Russian Kronotsky Nature Reserve in the Far East has come up with the idea to draw up an illustrated manual with useful tips on what to do should you run into a bear.
The reason behind the initiative is that more and more people are having close encounters with the creatures in the area, leading to more attacks by brown bears on humans.
“The idea emerged a while ago as the higher frequency of encounters between people and bears has ended up rather unfortunately for the people,” the author of the project, Nadezhda Belyakova says in a statement on the official website of the reserve.
“The decision was arrived at very quickly: we need to advise what to do and how to behave in such a situation. But how to make this serious information more accessible, easy to remember?” she asked.
Belyakova decided to make the manual as a comic book and to dispense the lifesaving advice via pictures with just a few accompanying words.
The manual ended up as a 10-page comic book with funny pictures and useful tips, among which are:
Never approach a bear even if it is behaving in a “friendly” way.
Do not scare a bear! Fear initiates an attack!
In the world of bears the size of the enemy really matters! Project as large a size as you can!
There are also some tips how not to attract a bear, among which is:
Do not fish where a bear is fishing. A hungry bear might claim your catch.
Never feed a bear! It quickly grows in confidence and will demand more and then initiate an attack.
The manual is set to be given away free of charge.
Interestingly enough, Russian people seem not to be particularly afraid of bears, especially when they are caged.
Prosecutors recently revealed that for the past two decades a Sochi restaurant owner, in Russia’s South, has allowed his guests to ply captive bears with beer as part of a show.
The animals became addicted to alcohol and had to be sent to a special drying-out clinic near Moscow for rehabilitation.
