Free Republic

A MAN resembling a "mummy" has been found alive in a bear's den a month after the beast attacked him and dragged him to its lair for a future meal. A group of Russian hunters found Alexander after their dogs barked and refused to move on from a bear's den they passed in the forest, it's reported. When the hunters checked inside the lair the saw what they believed to be a "human mummy" - until they realised he was alive.

Grizzly bears are capable of running as fast as 40 mph. Close encounters with hikers are a risk in the Yellowstone National Park area in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, and park rangers recommend packing protection akin to mace for Manhattan muggers — bear spray. The grizzly population of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem has more than tripled since 1987. About 150 call the park home. The bears were declared a "threatened species" in the lower 48 states in 1975. Grizzly relatives also reside in Alaska. Non-lethal bear spray — carried in a cartridge resembling a small fire extinguisher — expels "a...