"Bear invasion": now bears are to be hunted during hibernation all winter and hunting limits removed

The situation with bears has reached a critical level. In this article, I aim to illustrate the ongoing model of events so that all our allies can grasp the scale of the problem.

First. In Russia, bear encounters with humans have increased. All scientists and relevant experts confirm that the issue lies in the lack of food sources and habitat destruction. In other words, the animals simply have nothing to eat. As of October 2, 2026, there have been 59 confirmed attacks on people nationwide, compared to the usual 20–30 attacks annually in previous years. These figures are provided by the Ministry of Natural Resources and officials, so consider their reliability, as they are lobbying to reduce the protective status of bears altogether.

Second. There is no "record number of attacks" this year, as in 2014 there were reports of 166 bear attacks on people within a year. This means there are at least 107 fewer attacks now than then.

Third. Indeed, bears have been appearing more frequently, which is true, but, as confirmed by scientists and authorities, the problem is the reduction of food sources and issues within the taiga itself. The taiga is being logged, fires are burning everything to ashes, cedar nuts are being exported to China, and animals are being shot for pleasure, termed "sport hunting."

Fourth. Alongside real problems, there have been MASSIVE INFORMATIONAL MANIPULATIONS, with someone diligently stirring the informational background in recent months. Videos and photos generated by artificial intelligence were spread. Similar informational attacks occurred in previous years before attempts to pass legislation reducing the protective status of wildlife. For instance, in 2024, when the Ministry of Natural Resources attempted to pass a bill allowing bear hunting throughout the winter until spring—hunting in dens, waking sleeping animals with fire and shooting them as they try to escape.

Fifth. By mid-September 2026, as expected, sports hunting lobbyists came forward. They officially appealed to the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Prime Minister of Russia, Mikhail Mishustin, with demands:

• Legalize bear hunting throughout the winter while they sleep in dens with their cubs.
• Simplify hunting regulations legislatively.
• Remove limits on bear hunting, allowing unlimited shooting.
• Eliminate fees for "harvesting" bears, so no contributions to the treasury are required.
• Implement all this as soon as possible.

Sixth. On September 30, 2026, "suddenly," just days after the sports hunting lobbyists' letter to the government, federal authorities announced plans to remove limits on bear hunting in Russia. Additionally, they proposed paying bonuses for their extermination to "regulate numbers." This was personally stated by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev, who held a high-level meeting on bear attacks and stated the following, direct quotes:

"It is necessary to form a list of entities requiring additional funding to regulate the numbers of this predator."

"The possibility of removing the brown bear from the limited species list will be considered."

Additionally, Minister of Natural Resources Alexander Kozlov proposed establishing a basic bear population standard for each territory, although he confirmed that the 2026 situation was caused by a lack of food for animals in the Russian Taiga.

Now, let me explain the scale of what is happening.

As you know, I have been protecting nature for over ten years, conducting dozens of major expeditions into the wildest parts of Russia. I have written books about the destruction of our country's nature, spoken about it, participated in meetings in Moscow, and established contacts with allies within the government. Many legislative projects have been stalled through joint efforts!

In this entire story, my opinion is unequivocal: instead of addressing real environmental issues, someone has skillfully manipulated the informational background to push for more bear killings in the interests of the hunting lobby. In the interests of expanding the paid hunting industry.

For context, according to "Medialogia," as reported by RBC, from June 1 to September 9, 2026, there were about 23,000 media reports on bear attacks compared to 12,700 in the same period in 2025, and 151,800 social media mentions compared to 67,200, approximately 2.2 times more. Yet, bear attacks, I remind you, were only slightly more than the annual average, with many attacks provoked by people themselves. But this was skillfully spun in the media.

Now consider this.

In 2014, it was announced that there was an abnormal number of bear attacks on people. Authorities reported 166 registered cases, 107 more than in 2026.

That same year, authorities adopted the "Strategy for the Development of the Hunting Industry of the Russian Federation until 2030" by Government Order No. 1216-r. They planned the following:

• Increase the trade turnover of the hunting industry to 0.6% of GDP.
• Raise the estimated value of hunting animals to 550 billion rubles.
• Increase the value of hunting industry products to 120 billion rubles.
• Expand the area of lands transferred to legal entities and entrepreneurs under hunting agreements.
• Increase the maximum number of wild animal killings, specifically stating: wild ungulates—at least 80% of established limits, and bears—at least 60%.

And, as you noticed, that year there was a bear hysteria, with as many as 166 conflicts between bears and people recorded nationwide.

Simultaneously, the strategy for developing the hunting industry was adopted, attempting to make sports hunting a full-fledged economic sector. It should be noted that such projects are not adopted quickly, meaning the project was prepared over a long period, and the entire informational background was stirred up with the "bear invasion."

By 2018, both the FSB of Russia and the Prosecutor General's Office opposed bear extermination, reporting that the population had catastrophically declined in just two years. They stated that bears were being killed illegally on a massive scale for derivative exports to China. According to their data, the population decreased by 36% in just two years—from 225,000 individuals in 2015 to 143,000 in 2017. Note that the Prosecutor General's Office stood up for the bears a year after reports of the "bear invasion" and 166 registered conflicts with people. Law enforcement also pointed out that despite the population decline, the limit of permitted hunting continued to grow, and they requested the bear be included in the Red Book. The FSB, in turn, developed a project and submitted it to the government to include brown and Himalayan bears in the list of strategically important resources due to the illegal destruction of animals and smuggling of their parts.

But just two years later, the situation changed dramatically. The Ministry of Natural Resources began claiming that there were over 300,000 bears, and the course was abruptly set for developing the hunting sector in the country. Then, a large number of legislative projects were adopted, expanding the scale of animal shooting, allowing them to be killed with bows and crossbows, legalizing "enclosure hunting" without quotas and restrictions, and regions began competing for the flow of foreign, primarily trophy-hunting tourists.

From approximately 2019 to 2026, the country has been expanding the industry of sports recreational hunting. Roslesinforg publicly stated that already a THIRD OF ALL PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE FOREST LANDS IN THE COUNTRY have been transferred to PRIVATE HANDS for organizing sports hunting. Imagine the scale! The Ministry of Natural Resources officially reported that there are already about five million active registered hunters in the country, and the industry continues to grow.

What is sports recreational hunting? It is essentially shooting "live targets" in the Russian Taiga, for which people pay well. Foreigners are willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars for "turnkey safari" arrangements. One of the most favored, considered traditional, methods of killing bears is den hunting—waking a sleeping bear with fire (throwing it into the den), it wakes up, frightened, runs outside, and is shot at point-blank range.

This type of hunting was previously banned in the country, as it is clear that killing sleeping animals is at least unethical. Moreover, female bears are pregnant and give birth in dens in the middle of winter, and some sleep with their grown cubs. It is impossible to know if there are cubs (or a pregnant female) in the den until the killing is done.

But as the hunting industry grew, the Ministry of Natural Resources hastily tried to legalize winter bear hunting.

See for yourself:

On July 24, 2020, the Ministry of Natural Resources issued Order No. 477 "On the Approval of Hunting Rules." For the brown bear, the hunting season was set from March 21 to June 10 and from August 1 to December 31. Thus, the season was extended to the end of December, when bears in much of their range are already hibernating. The same order, in paragraph 31, allowed bear hunting throughout the year for population regulation purposes.

On May 24, 2024, the Ministry of Natural Resources brazenly posted a draft amendment to the Hunting Rules, directly legalizing hunting brown and Himalayan bears throughout the winter until spring. They wanted to kill bears in two stages: from July 1 to February 28 (29), then give the bear a "break" and start killing again from March 21 to June 10.

We, along with the country's environmental community, opposed it, and barely managed to defeat the bill. The Ministry of Natural Resources officially abandoned its adoption due to public dissatisfaction.

Did you trace the trajectory of this madness? Did you note how in 2014 there was a "bear invasion" amidst plans to develop the hunting industry in the country?

Next.

On February 11–12, 2026, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation Murad Kerimov presented in the State Duma the Ministry of Natural Resources' draft updated Strategy for the Development of the Hunting Industry until 2035.

The most important aspect is that the Ministry of Natural Resources chose the basic scenario of "intensive development of the hunting industry." This is not my assessment, but what officials directly stated! They plan to begin intensive development of the paid animal killing industry until 2035, significantly increasing indicators.

I studied their project, and here's what they want: increase the growth of companies and individual entrepreneurs for animal killing, boost trade turnover from sports hunting, and so on.

And precisely for the autumn session of 2026 (in October–November), a separate round table is planned on "Developing the Strategy for the Development of the Hunting Industry in the Russian Federation until 2035."

It turns out that just before adopting the new strategy for expanding sports recreational hunting in the country, the informational background about the "bear invasion" was stirred up, and there are rapid proposals to allow unlimited bear killings, remove legislative restrictions, and permit shooting bears during winter hibernation.

The same situation occurred in 2014 when there was also a "bear invasion" alongside the adoption of the "Strategy for the Development of the Hunting Industry until 2030."

I think the scale of interests is clear to everyone.

The bear emergence is triggered by habitat destruction and the reduction of food sources due to the large-scale "development" of the wilderness. Currently, millions of hectares of taiga are burning, forests are being logged, cedar groves are being stripped bare, and all this is supported by vast territories where people organize paid animal killings for entertainment.

Scientists and relevant experts explicitly state that there is no real data on bear populations in the country. All this is nothing more than "bureaucratic guesswork" with numbers on paper. The fact that people see bears more often DOES NOT INDICATE A POPULATION INCREASE, BUT SHOWS THAT BEARS ARE COMING OUT OF THE TAIGA MORE FREQUENTLY. The correct question should be: what is happening in the wild if animals, bypassing evolutionary fear of humans, come to us?

No one talks about the real circumstances of this madness. It was enough to stir the informational background for ordinary people, who have never seen bears, to start supporting their extermination. And doesn't it seem suspiciously aligned with plans to expand the sports recreational hunting industry?

We are now trying to address the problem. But it is very difficult! There is a lot of aggression directed at me personally for trying to protect bears, even from many of our own people. They say: "Ah, protect the cute animals, but don't justify the bears, they need to be killed." There is really a lot of aggression!

In conclusion, once again in summary:

• In 2014, it was reported that bears conflicted with people 166 times, news was flooded with "bear invasions," and at that moment, the Hunting Industry Development Project until 2030 was adopted. Bears were required to be killed at least up to 60% of the issued limits.

  
  
• In 2026, it was reported that bears conflicted with people 59 times, news was flooded with "bear invasions," and at that moment, the Hunting Industry Development Project until 2035 was adopted. Bears are required to be killed without limits, including those hibernating in dens during winter.

And I remind you that since 2018, the number of quotas issued for bear shooting has been rapidly increasing. According to our registry, we collect and verify data: if in 2019, decrees were signed for quotas to shoot over 24,000 bears, then for 2027, the right to kill over 52,000 bears across the country has been signed.

This is ABSOLUTE MADNESS!

© PAVEL PASHKOV