16 px

They say, “it’s good to tease a bear out of a hut.” What if you had to meet one on one, nose to nose? Here, according to the advice of experienced taiga explorers, you definitely need to have spare pants. Over many years of taiga practice, I had the opportunity to meet more than once with the owner of the taiga and with those who hunted him and whom chance brought “nose to nose.”

And the most important rule that I learned from these meetings is: don’t run away! Remember, you can’t run away from a bear. When you panic and try to run away from it, you provoke the beast to attack. From now on you become a victim.

Don’t forget that you are human. And a bear (unless it is sick, wounded or a crank) is afraid of humans. And he always tries to avoid meeting. Remember this advantage of yours over the beast.

Don’t turn your back on him. Step back slowly. Don’t look him in the eyes. The beast takes this as a challenge.

Do not wave your arms or stick. Better, slowly retreating, start talking to him. The sound of your own voice will calm you down and give you confidence. A calm tone will also calm the bear.

There are people who, when meeting an animal, are overcome by panic or tetanus, or they rush straight ahead from the animal, not making out the road. And there are those who are not afraid of the bear, moreover, they try to come into contact with it as with a domestic animal. Both the first and second attitudes towards the beast are dangerous. But it’s even more dangerous when bear cubs rush to play at your feet.

This is where you urgently need to escape to the nearest tree or run away, because somewhere nearby there is a formidable mother. She will not figure out who is right and who is wrong. He will definitely attack. One day, a huntsman of the Baikal Nature Reserve, walking around his site, heard a child crying.

“Where does the child come from here in the taiga?” - At first he was surprised, and then he was afraid. He stood behind a tree and soon saw a bear cub. From time to time he stopped, sat on his back and, whining, wiped his eyes with his paws: well, a child and a child. This seemed so funny to the huntsman that he came out from behind the tree.

The little bear opened his mouth in surprise and stopped whimpering. “I’ll catch you,” the hunter decided and chased the bear cub… And a minute later the thought hit the head: what if the bear is nearby? And he ran in one direction, and the bear cub in the other direction.

Remember: if you meet bear cubs in the forest, do not try to play with them, much less catch them… But here’s another story. It was told to me by a hunter who caught bear cubs for zoos and circuses. “One day the dogs drove two bear cubs, still just cubs, up a tree. I was with a friend.

We decided to catch it. I climbed a tree and told my friend to catch them below. They tied the dogs to a tree. The tree was not tall.

Before I had time to reach halfway, one bear cub flew straight through me, like black lightning, down the tree. “Catch!” - I shouted. I was just about to climb after the second one when I heard a growl and a desperate curse from my comrade below. He looked, and there was a bear cub sitting astride him and tearing with his claws — only cotton wool from his padded jacket was flying in shreds.

I’m down. He grabbed the teddy bear. And he turned out of his hands like a vine and towards me. I didn’t have time to figure anything out when I found myself downstairs, and the bear cub on me was striping my padded jacket.

I cover my face and neck, and he tries to get it. He tore his hands bloody. My comrade came to his senses a little — and came to my aid. He threw me and — at him.

The dogs are tearing up, foaming at the mouth, but we can’t untie them, we don’t have time. And the bear cub tore our clothes to shreds, scratched us bloody and ran away. My friend and I are lying under a tree covered in blood and cotton wool. “Well,” he tells me gloatingly, “you caught it?!”

So an animal, no matter how it turns out: small or large, is an animal, and in no case should you approach it like a domestic cat or dog.