Man fought off a bear with his bare hands, then gushing blood walked 6 km to summon aid

The attack from an angry female bear with a cub came suddenly as the Sverdlovsk man did what millions of Russians do at the time of year - collected mushrooms in a forest. 

'I already collected half a bucket of mushrooms, and walked, looking for more under my feet,' he said.

'Suddenly I looked up - there was a bear in front of me... when she got to her feet, she was taller than me.'

He was unarmed, and had only a penknife with him to cut the mushrooms. The bear quickly knocked away the knife and Alexander cowered under the assault from the aggressive brown bear. 

'She rushed at me and began to bite my head,' he said.

The tip of his nose was almost severed. 

'She started to bite and tear him,' said a police source. 'The mushroomer could do nothing, he just covered head with his hands. 

'At some point, Lopukhin realised that he was going to die. 

'Then, in despair, he grabbed the bear by the head with his left hand and punched its muzzle with his right hand.'

Alexander said: 'For some reason, it was not scary. I pushed her away, and her hair, I noticed, was so nice - very, very soft. 

'We fought for about ten minutes, then I started to punch her in the muzzle'.

The beast got so surprised by the attack, it pulled away. 

'Having received such a rebuff, shocked from surprise, bear sat down nearby and let the mushroom picker go,' said the policeman.

'Then she fled. And the bear cub fled with her.' 

Alexander said: 'I waited until she walked away, got up, took a bucket of mushrooms and went towards my house. 

'Blood was gushing from all my wounds, and I badly wanted to sleep. 

'But I realised that I had to hold on and move forward. I managed to walk six kilometres.'

Here his cell phone was in coverage, so Alexander called a friend to come and rescue him.

'At night I was taken to the ambulance in Serov and had my wounds treated.' 

His reaction looking back - as he puffed on a cigarette - was what you'd expect from a real Siberian man.

'Honestly, I wasn't afraid. I even liked it as my emotions were unforgettable! 

'Animals do not attack people unless they are touched or provoked. But, of course, there are exceptions.

'Among animals, too, there are psychos, they just have no mental hospitals unlike us. 

'The main thing is that I do not have any fear.'

He vowed: 'As soon as I get out of the hospital, I'll go back to the forest for the mushrooms.' 

Nor is it his first encounter with a bear when out picking mushrooms.

'I had come across bears three times in the forest, this was the fourth,' he said. 'Before, everything ended peacefully and we just went in different directions. 

'This was a mother bear, she attacked because of the cub.' 

A hospital spokesman said: 'The victim has multiple cuts of the head and upper limbs, a large lacerated wound of the right hand, and right ear. 

'The tip of the nose was bitten off; we sewed it back. His body was badly scratched, too, but his life is out of danger.'