Funerals under armed guard at cemetery after Himalayan bears seen prowling the graves

Police fired shots into the air to scare bears from a graveyard in Khabarovsk region, but locals fear they will return.

People in Komsomolsk-on-Amur were recommended not to visit their local cemetery after the hungry bears emerged out of the forest. Police guards at the gate are turning people away. 

Funerals are going ahead but with a police SWAT team as escorts in case of attacks. The bears ate cookies and candies left on the graves by the visitors.

It is a Russian tradition to leave food on at the graves of departed loved ones. 

The Himalayan black bear is less dangerous to humans than the brown bear, and the visitors did not show any aggression. Despite this, there are fears for visitors to the cemetery. 

Meanwhile, a brown bear plundered graves and ate human remains in Tynda cemetery, in neighbouring Amur region. 

Hunters waited several nights at the cemetery to kill the beast. It was shot on 25 May. The bear was a large male, aged around ten years old.