Tiny cub turns up at police station for help to escape poachers

A bear cub whose mother was killed by poachers in eastern Siberia ran to a police office for help to escape likely being shot itself.

In a remarkable incident in the settlement of Murkhoshibir in the Republic of Buryatia, the animal was spotted by policemen at 6.30am on May 9.

They called the Inspection for the Protection of Nature and opened a criminal case, suspecting that the bear’s mother was killed illegally.

It is not clear if the cub had ran away from the poachers or was chased away by them, but either way the little bear fled for its life having been taken to the suburban area from its home.

Andrey Fefelov, state inspector for nature protection, said: 'The natural environment of our area is not actually suitable for bears. We suppose the bear cub came from the taiga.

'Obviously its mother was killed by poachers, illegally, and the cub was brought here.'

When inspectors arrived and attempted to catch the bear, it tried to escape and climbed up an electricity pole, which had to be switched off before the animal was eventually captured.

The story has a happy ending because the bear was handed over to a little zoo at the Ethnographic Museum of Transbaikalia.

Zhargal Ayushev, a specialist at the zoo, said: 'This is the only chance for the cub, as it could not survive in the wild. Bears stay with mother for up to three years, but this cub is very small and is just two months old or so.'

Staff of the zoo have not named the cub yet, and the animal is showing signs of being slightly uneasy in its new environment by refusing to enter its new house.

Such behaviour is normal for wild animals and, according to the experts, it could take up to a month before the new addition settles in properly.

Meanwhile, on Monday another bear cub was found on the outskirts of Ust-Kut, 961km from Irkutsk. A resident of the town called police, who came and took the animal before feeding it and passing it on to wildlife protection officials.

Experts said the cub is about three months old and is not a threat, and it is thought it was roaming free because its mother was likely killed by poachers.