Savage bear attack victim regains consciousness

WARNING: garphic content!

The woman buried alive during a savage bear attack in the Amur region has regained consciousness but remains in a critical condition.

Natalya Pasternak, 55, was attacked when she was collecting birch sap in forest zone in Tynda outskirts and was only saved because the animal thought she was dead. It then sought to bury her and hide her, as if safeguarding its next meal, with the mother-of-two’s friend managing to race off to raise the alarm.

Doctors have said the post office worker remains in a serious condition but is now about to be moved from Tynda District Hospital to the Amur Regional Clinical Hospital in Blagoveshchensk. 

Lyudmila Ostapenko, deputy chief physician of the Amur Regional Clinical Hospital, said: 'The question of transporting the patient to our hospital will be decided today or tomorrow and they should be bringing her to us by medical aircraft. Now her health condition is stabilized so she will be able to endure the flight. It is too early to talk about treatment. First, we will make a physical examination and then make a decision.'

Andrey Kozlov, the chief doctor of Tynda District Hospital, said that the treatment will likely be long and complicated, since the main problem is that microflora in the teeth of wild animals leads to septic complications. 

Marina Gulevich, Deputy Minister of Health of the Amur Region, commented: 'Just yesterday the patient was non-transportable. But she has now been disconnected from the ventilator, and is breathing by herself.'

More details about the shocking accident – which was photographed in graphic images – have emerged.

One of the first people on the scene was Sergei Ivanov, an expert for the Protection of Fauna of the Amur region. He said: 'Initially it was said that in the area of the sewage treatment plant a bear had ripped a dog and that a woman remained in the woods, so there were no policemen and doctors with us.

'I walked softly. The predator at this time was guarding its prey and, not wanting to share it with competitors, it jumped out of the trees to the noise [of us]. I waited until it came closer and shot from six metres - four shots, with the fifth to the head. I looked and saw a woman, almost completed buried. Only her bloodied face and one arm was sticking out, but she was alive and breathing. She was conscious.

'She asked, 'Did you kill the bear?' Then she said, 'Dig me out'. I called to ambulance and the police. Most likely about one hour had passed since the attack to the moment I arrived. And all the while the poor woman suffered terribly.'

Mr Ivanov continued: “Only underwear remained on the woman. Her clothes were torn.

'The woman eyewitness, who called the emergency services, said that they met just here in the forest. I then walked through the woods, looking for the victim’s belongings. I came across a handbag. It hung on the tree, where they had collected birch sap.

'The second woman also suffered from the bear. She has scratches on her back. We can say that she miraculously escaped from the clutches of the beast. In other cases we would never found them both.'

The place where the accident happened is the forest zone in the outskirts of Tynda. Hunting experts have been surprised that the bear attacked people literary within the city limits, with the forest where the women were collecting birch sap close to the sewage treatment plant. 

Nikolai Stepanov, Deputy Head of Department of Protection of Fauna in the Amur region, speculated that the dog may have provoked the attack. 

He said: 'In the forest it is better to take dogs on a leash and not let them go. Seeing a wild animal, a dog begins to bark at it. The majority of dogs then get frightened and run to their owner. As a result, your pet can lead an angry bear straight to you.'