A RUSSIAN woman has been mauled to death by a vicious bear amid a horrifying spate of deadly attacks sweeping the country.
The victim, who has not been named, is the seventh person to be killed in what residents are calling the deadliest summer for bear attacks in living memory in Russia’s Krasnoyarsk region.
The 51-year-old reportedly spotted a large brown bear trying to get into an animal pen in her garden in the village of Voznesenka.
Suddenly the bear lunged at her, according to state news agency TASS.
The predator was shot dead by the woman’s neighbour but the woman had already succumbed to her injuries.
A video released by investigators showed officers inspecting the corpse of the bear that carried out the attack.
The animal’s huge, lifeless body was splayed out in an area of woodland.
It comes just days after a mum-of-eight was killed in a brutal attack in the same region after a bear dragged her from her bedroom window as she slept.
Lyudmila Prokofievna’s ravaged body was later found more than 50 ft from her rural home in Verkhniy Kebezh village.
Other people killed by bears in Krasnoyarsk this month include a 39-year-old male logger and two women out picking mushrooms.
Pensioners Galina Teterina, 73, and Zoya G, 67, had both gone out to pick mushrooms in Russia when they were ambushed by the animal.
It is believed the bear killed and buried Zoya before Galina came to the same spot just hours apart.
A series of deadly encounters have struck across Russia, claiming the lives of at least 20 people in 11 regions this year.
In August, a woman was dragged from her tent in the dead of night the day after she got engaged.
Snezhana Korolyova, 29, was mauled to death during a romantic camping trip in the Altai Mountains of Russia in southern Siberia.
Snezhana and her groom-to-be were awoken to the beast tearing apart their tent before it “hauled the screaming woman away”.
It savagely killed the newly engaged woman before carrying her body across the Biya River to bury her.
A witness named Alina said: “It wouldn’t give her up and… dragged her across the river.”
Experts say bears have been forced to look further afield for food this year due to a lack of berries after an early Spring.
People have also been leaving food waste outdoors that attracts bears and ignoring safety protocols, according to experts.
Shorter and milder winters, among other factors, have seen bear numbers more than double since 1990 when the population stood at 130,000.
Krasnoyarsk, where the latest attack struck, is home to nearly 27,000 of Russia’s 308,000 brown bears, according to environment ministry data.
Investigators said on Wednesday they had opened a criminal case into the local environment ministry over negligence claims.
Authorities have warned people to avoid visiting forests as the terrifying killings continue to mount.
“If you encounter a large predator, you have virtually no chance of survival,” the statement said.