A Bear Catches a Woman in the Forest. Then It Makes a Fatal Mistake

Epoch Newsroom
9/7/2015
Updated:
4/7/2016

A bear attacked a Russian woman as she was collecting birch sap in a forest, but made a mistake that would ultimately spell its demise.

The bear seriously injured 55-year-old Natalya Pasternak in the forest near Tynda. But, apparently believing the postal worker was dead, the bear left her partially buried beneath a pile of leaves and branches, presumably to return later to eat her.

Pasternak, though, didn’t give up hope and didn’t succumb to her injuries. 

(Twitter)
(Twitter)

Fortunately for her, a friend that was collecting sap with her had escaped and went for help. 

The friend came back with a group of rescuers, and that’s when the bear made its second mistake--it tried to attack the rescuers.

(Siberian Times)
(Siberian Times)

To stave off the attack, the group was forced to kill the aggressive four-year-old female animal, reported The Siberian Times.

That’s when they spotted Pasternak’s arm jutting out from the pile of leaves and foliage, bloodied from the bear’s claws.

Pasternak’s first words to her rescuers were: “Have you killed the bear?”

She’s alive in the hospital, although she’s in “severe condition” and remains in a state of “deep shock.”