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Spain’s Iberian brown bear population, which was once almost extinct, has made such a strong recovery that a ranger patrol was set up to deter them from roaming into small villages in the country’s north. The regional government of Castile and Leon arranged for the patrol, which consists of nine rangers, to guard residents and their crops in the mining town of Villablino and the surrounding area, in the province of Palencia, ... bear can weigh from 330 to 550 pounds and stand over 6.5 feet tall, ... Angeles Orallo, 73, has been attempting to keep the bears away from...

U.S.A. – In Italy, Andrea Papi, a young man running for exercise, was killed by an aggressive European brown bear. European brown bears are essentially the same species as American grizzly/brown bears. From Nature World News: Fear and rage spread throughout the area after Andrea Papi was fatally attacked by the aggressive bear while jogging above the town of Caldes in the Brenta Dolomites on the slopes of Mt. Peller. Papi is the first Italian reported to have died in the last few years at the hands of a bear. In Italy, bears are a protected species, and since they...

A man was riding his bicycle along a riverbed in Alaska on Tuesday, when police said he was mauled by a brown bear. As he was riding his bike in Cantwell, Alaska, the man, who police didn't identify, said he saw the bear running towards him from 10-15 yards away. He got off of his bicycle and started yelling at the bear. "Just prior to the bear making contact, the victim fell to the ground and onto his back, covered his head and believes he kicked at the bear, ... The victim estimated that the bear weighed 500 pounds and...

A longtime Alaska Zoo resident alpaca named Caesar was killed Saturday night or Sunday morning by a wild brown bear that broke into the alpaca’s enclosure. The bear tunneled under the zoo’s perimeter fence and broke through the cedar split rail fence around the enclosure before killing Caesar, according to the zoo’s executive director, Pat Lampi.

Google Plus Print articleReddit Increase Article Font Size Decrease Article Font Size Update, 7 p.m.: WeÂ’ve posted a new story with updated information: Man killed, member of search party injured in Eagle River bear attacks â–¶ Play Update, 4:10 p.m.: What Anchorage police described as an aggressive brown bear believed to have killed an Eagle River man and suspected of badly injuring another man had not been found as of Wednesday afternoon. Biologists with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game searched for the animal earlier on Wednesday. As of 4 p.m., no one was in the field but biologists...

With the public hearing in Soldotna last night, the public comment period on the proposal to close the Fall 2014 and Spring 2015 Brown Bear hunting season on the Kenai Peninsula comes to an end. In a release yesterday, the Governor’s office said, “Federal land managers have again proposed limiting Alaskans’ access to a state resource, the proposed closure is not justified by either resource protection concerns or federal policy. I strongly urge the Service to reconsider this action and allow state-authorized hunting to continue on the refuge.” ... The decision to temporarily close the Brown Bear season on the...

For 26 years Pyros, a Pyrenean brown bear, has enjoyed life as an undisputed alpha male. But he could be about to pay a price for that dominance. Following the birth of a cub who is both his daughter and granddaughter, Spanish scientists have declared his overwhelming sexual vigor is a threat to the survival of the colony. Scientists say they must now choose between taking Pyros into captivity or castrating him—although they are not certain even the latter will prevent his dominant behavior from hindering the population’s recovery. …

Paco, a 2-year-old Chihuahua-pug mix, was killed and eaten by a brown bear as Sitka resident Paula Myers watched in horror just a few feet away on Monday. Paula Myers never imagined that her first bear encounter would occur just a few feet from her Sitka home, and that her dog, 2-year-old Chihuahua-pug mix Paco, would be killed and consumed by a brown bear right in front of her eyes. Myers and her husband, Brad Langdorf, moved to Sitka in January to work at Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium. Coming to Alaska was a new adventure for the couple, Myers...

A brown bear has gone on the rampage in the Italian Dolomites, killing donkeys, chickens and sheep and prompting shepherds and farmers to call for it to be killed. Anxious locals in the mountains around the town of Asiago fear that it is only a matter of time before the bear attacks a hiker or shepherd. The bear can cover up to 30 miles in a day. "I'm worried for the safety of cows up in the pastures, but we also have an obligation to protect the bear and avoid any sort of violent end," said Attilio Schneck, the president...

Peter Segerström, a Swedish predator researcher, was attacked on Monday by a bear who had been put to sleep to be tagged. "It bit pretty hard," Segerström said to the local Norrländska Socialdemokraterna daily. After the attack Segerström was taken to Gällivare hospital for treatment for arm injuries as the bear had managed to register some fairly deep cuts in both arms with its jaws. The harrowing attack occurred near Nausta outside of Jokkmokk in the far north of Sweden after Segerström had shot a sedation dart into a female bear with the intention of tagging the animal. As it...

Patmor had the encounter with a large brown bear ...there are other ways his life has changed after the event. He now brings more than just his dog with him while walking to the post office. "I carry my .44 whenever I go anywhere now," ... Patmor said carrying the pistol is a result of not just the bear bite, but also ... "I figured if I'm going to keep being attacked by animals, I've got to do something to protect myself," "In 20 years, I've hardly ever seen bears around my house, but I saw five browns and blacks...

Juneau man recounts Friday morning bear attack on Admiralty Island . A "crack" in the brush. A split second to turn and see the bear. Another second to click the gun's safety off. That's all the time Dr. John Raster had before the brown bear attacked him. "I screamed and fired a shot into the air," he said. "It was already on me and the gun was still pretty much slung around my shoulder. He bit me and started scratching me and pushed me down into the water." The Juneau doctor had been walking alone Friday morning along a stretch...

It was a hostage situation with a twist, and a happy ending. A group of cranberry-pickers spent a night stranded on an island in a Russian swamp Wednesday after an encounter with a bear prevented them from leaving before dark, a ranger said. Twelve people, including a pregnant woman, were harvesting the berries on an island near the town of Malaya Vishera, in the Novgorod region 280 miles northwest of Moscow, when a brown bear approached them, emergency official Sergei Orlov. The pickers - most of them Gypsies, or Roma, from the area - set up a bonfire, shooed the...

SITKA -- About 20 workers at the Greens Creek mine watched this week as a juvenile brown bear was chased around buildings and vehicles at a work area before it was caught, killed and partially eaten by a slightly larger bear. A company official said the kill came after a 30-minute chase Tuesday afternoon through the heart of Greens Creek mining operations 20 miles south of Juneau on northern Admiralty Island. Bill Oelklaus, environmental manager for the Greens Creek Mining Co., said the bears made two passes through a work area adjacent to the underground mine before the larger bear...

Planning to overnight at the Kenai's most popular campground? Leave the tent at home. Tent camping is now banned in the Russian River campground. Campers there must sleep in a hard-shelled vehicle. This comes after a bear grabbed a man sleeping in his tent early Saturday morning and bit him. Other campers scared off the bear after the man started yelling. He suffered minor injuries.

A brown bear killed in defense of life and property by two Soldotna hunters last weekend turned out to be a big one. Jeff Selinger, Soldotna area management biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, received the carcass and its removed hide from the two hunters who shot it. Selinger said that after his initial inspection of the kill site, he spent the rest of his weekend removing the meat from the bones of the bear. He then tallied the weight of the remains. "The meat, heart and lungs weighed in at 465 pounds," ... Selinger combined this...