Monday Bear Blogging

There is an old tradition on the VC of occasional Monday posts about bears: Pictures, news stories, trivia or whatever. In that spirit, here's an interesting report from the Guardian about the travails of Luchegorsk, a town in eastern Russia that is apparently besieged by bears.

In the past month, more than 30 bears have entered inhabited areas in Russia's Primorsky region, located between China, North Korea and the Sea of Japan. Local authorities have had to shoot at least two animals.

Luchegorsk, a town of 21,000 on the river Kontrovod near the Chinese border, has been particularly affected. Two large bears - a brown bear and a Himalayan bear - are now "ruling over" Luchegorsk, wandering the streets and scaring local people, the Primorskaya newspaper reported. Asian black bears have also been seen, and a further three dozen bears are circling the town, according to other reports.

Local people say they are afraid to leave their homes and that the streets are filled with the sounds of sirens and loudspeakers telling citizens not to go outside for their own safety, VladNews reported. In one case, bears reportedly ransacked bee hives kept by locals. Kindergartens have kept children inside.

The Guardian story contains links to video and news reports about Luchegorsk's troubles.