Bear Kills Man, Seriously Injures Woman in Mongolia Home Attack

A man has been killed and a woman seriously injured after a bear entered their home in Mongolia, prompting authorities to step up efforts to control a growing number of bear encounters across the country.

The attack happened on Wednesday night in Bayanzurkh district, on the outskirts of Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar. The victims were a man in his 40s and a woman in her 50s, according to Munkhbayar M, head of the city’s environment department.

The woman managed to escape after suffering serious injuries and ran to nearby residents for assistance. She was later taken to a hospital, where she remains under treatment.

Authorities have deployed about 35 rangers to search for the bear, which they intend to capture or kill if it is found.

Officials say the incident comes amid an alarming increase in bear sightings in Mongolia. Ulaanbaatar alone has recorded 24 confirmed sightings so far in 2026, a sharp rise from two in 2018 and just one in 2019.

Nationwide, authorities have documented 754 bear sightings across 11 provinces and the capital this year. Officials said about 80 per cent of the reports involved female bears with cubs or young bears.

Authorities are still trying to establish why bears are appearing more frequently in populated areas. Hunting permits have been issued in eight provinces, while officials are also working to obtain tranquilizer dart guns that could help rangers safely deal with bears in rural communities.

A recent examination of a bear killed in Khentii province offered a possible clue. Baljinnyam N, an official with Mongolia’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, said the animal had no food in its stomach.

The discovery has raised concerns about food shortages in the bears’ natural habitat. In response, authorities banned the collection of nuts and berries in mountainous areas in September for the remainder of the year.

Bear encounters also rising across Asia

Mongolia is not the only Asian country struggling with a rise in encounters between humans and bears.

In Russia, prosecutors reported in September that at least six people had died in bear attacks in the Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk within a single month. Officials in a neighboring region also described the situation as severe, saying bears had effectively placed one town “under siege.”

Russian prosecutors have launched a criminal negligence investigation, alleging that local authorities failed to take adequate measures to control the bear population.

According to Russia’s natural resources ministry, the country’s brown bear population has increased significantly since 1990, rising from about 130,000 to nearly 308,000 in 2026.

Japan has also experienced a growing number of bear encounters, with animals increasingly turning up near populated areas.

Last year, a record 13 people were reportedly killed by bears in Japan. Sightings have included bears appearing on airport runways, golf courses and near schools, while some have wandered into supermarkets and hot spring resorts.

The growing threat became serious enough for the United States State Department to warn Americans visiting Japan to remain alert to the risk of bear encounters.

Experts say there is no single explanation for the trend. Changes in the availability of food, environmental pressures that may be linked to climate change and the decline of populations in rural communities are among the factors believed to be pushing bears closer to humans.

Source: CBS News

Culled by Lawrence Abiona