nspectors of the South Kamchatka Reserve record an unusual increase in bear mortality in the Kuril Lake area

The press service of the Kronotsky Reserve reported that a significant part of the dead bears were under the age of two years. The animals did not have wounds or injuries. The dead bears were well-fed and did not suffer from exhaustion.

Expert veterinarians were called to the territory of the reserve and performed a postmortem examination and took tissue samples from one of the dead animals. According to experts, even if the bears died from an infectious disease, the risk of its spread is unlikely possible.

“Now there is a minimum number of people in the region, the migration of birds that can carry the disease is over. Except for bears, there were no outbreaks of death for unknown reasons of other animals," the reserve said.

According to experts, it is too early to talk about a specific disease. However, the situation is not dangerous for people. The reserve stressed that now there is no need toclose the area to visitors.

The leadership of the Kronotsky Reserve will monitor the situation. An interdepartmental working group has already been established to establish the circumstances of the death of animals.

The reserve said that outbreaks of diseases are observed from time to time among brown bears. But the scientists of the reserve emphasize that these are natural processes.

All new deaths of animals will be recorded and processed jointly with experts from the Veterinary Agency of the Kamchatka Territory and the Far Eastern Interregional Directorate of Rosprirodnadzor in the Kamchatka Territory. In the near future, the results of the research will show what caused the decrease in the number of brown bears on the Kuril Lake.