Keep your distance and not panic: how to behave when you meet a wild beast

Meeting a wild animal in the forest is not always a danger to humans. However, trying to approach the beast, feed it or remove it from the phone at close range is not worth it. This was told to journalists on September 15 by the head of the hunting department of the Ministry of Forestry Alexander Kozorez, the correspondent of the Minsk-Novosti agency reports.

Photo is illustrative, pixabay.com

According to the expert, with the increase in the number of wild animals increases and the number of meetings with them. In this case, most of these situations end safely, if the person does not try to provoke the beast.

Today in the country there are about 57 thousand noble deer, 47 thousand moose and more than 130 thousand roe deer. In 2011, there were about 120 bears in Belarus, and by 2025 their number exceeded 1,289 individuals - an increase of more than 10 times, while today there are more than 2 thousand wolves.

Particular care should be taken when meeting a bear. When you see an animal, you don’t have to approach it for a photo or try to make contact. It is better to calmly move away and give the beast a chance to leave.

- Having met a bear, you should calmly withdraw and not try to contact him. If he behaves aggressively, you need to pretend that you are bigger: raise your hands or backpack up and loudly indicate your presence, said Kozorez.

To reduce the likelihood of an unexpected meeting, while walking in the forest, it is recommended to make yourself known in advance. You can talk, walk quite noisy, break branches. When a bear hears a man, he will usually try to get out of his way.

Do not approach the young of wild animals. A deer, bunny, or bear that is alone is not necessarily abandoned. The mother can be nearby and watch him.

- The best help is not to approach the cub at all and quickly leave this territory so that the mother can then return and take it away, the expert said. You should also not try to tame wild animals. In particular, the bear, even after prolonged contact with humans, remains a wild animal and can be dangerous.

Separately, the specialist stopped at wolves. According to him, during the postwar period, targeted hunting of wolves on people in Belarus is not registered: if attacks are recorded, then, as a rule, the animal is sick with rabies and therefore behaves inadequately.