The incredible story of little orphan bear who was saved by Russian pilot as a cub… then had to be rescued by his friend again when he was captured and used for bear-baiting
- Mansur the bear was rescued by pilots in Russia’s Tver region in 2016
- He stayed with the pilots and they built him an enclosure at their airdrome
- As he grew bigger, the pilots decided to let him live in a nature reserve
- They later found out manager of reserve had used him for bear-baiting
- Pilot Andrey Ivanov and colleagues rescued Mansur the bear once more
- They are now building him a new enclosure to ensure he can stay with them
A brown bear rescued by Russian pilots as an orphaned cub, has now been saved by the same men once again – after they discovered that he was being used as dog bait.
Mansur the bear’s first encounter with the pilots came as a cub, when they found him wandering near their air base on the edge of a forest in 2016, and adopted him.
However, after a while at the Orlovka air base in Amur Oblast, Russia, the pilots decided it would be better for Mansur if he could live somewhere more suitable.
Lovable beast: Mansur, pictured with his carer Andrey Ivanov, was raised by humans but as he grew older it was decided it would be better for the bear if he could live in a nature reserve
They ruled out returning him to the wild, and instead found him sanctuary in Seliger nature reserve, where he would be monitored and protected from hunters and poachers.
‘A local official from the Ministry of Nature Resources and Ecology volunteered to help,’ said his main carer, pilot Andrey Ivanov, 39.
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‘We trusted him, but we wanted to keep an eye on our bear – yet this official did not tell us how Mansur was doing.’
After not getting any updates on Mansur, Mr Ivanov and the other pilots investigated, and found out they had been conned.
Mansur had not been taken to the nature park but instead to a notorious ‘bear-baiting station’ in Kaluga region where hunting dogs are trained using tethered wild animals.
Shocking discovery: The pilots who rescued Mansur, pictured as a cub, found that instead of living in a wildlife sanctuary, the bear was being used at a ‘baiting station’ to train hunting dogs
Helping hand: Mr Ivanov had to spend several hours in Mansur’s den every day for two weeks to help him go into hibernation
Adorable: Mansur as a cub sitting in the cockpit in one of the planes
‘We started our own investigation, which led us to finding Mansur in a horrible condition at one of dog baiting stations,’ Mr Ivanov said.
When they discovered how he would be chained with vicious dogs attacking him, the pilots staged a rescue swoop to free the bear and bring him back to their airdrome.
The wild animal immediately recognised the pilots, hugging them and jumping in his ‘father figure’ Andrey’s lap.
The sad-looking bear was in a poor condition, his fur covered in excrement, but thankfully the baiting station had not yet cut his teeth and turn out his claws, as is normally done to protect the dogs.
Mansur was taken back to the airdrome where pilots built a shelter and installed electronic fencing to protect humans in case the growing predator went on the attack.
Best pals: Mansur was rescued from the bear-baiters and now lives happily with his ‘surrogate father’ Mr Ivanov and the other pilots
Almost even: Mansur the bear and one of the pilots play on a home-made see-saw
Rescuer: Mansur is pictured in the arms of Mr Ivanov shortly after he was arrested
They also built a shelter to act as his den – and Mr Ivanov would lay with the bear to successfully coax him into hibernating for the winter.
‘We rescued him, and from that moment we didn’t even think about letting Mansur be taken by anyone else.
‘We decided to join forces and to build him a house, with his own protected territory and a pond.
‘We want to make him a really good comfortable place to live. He is part of our team.’
When he was first found, he was the size of a domestic cat. Mansur now weighs some 440lbs, stands almost 6ft tall and eats 45 lbs of food a day.
Best pals: Mr Ivanov and his colleagues are now building a proper enclosure near their airdrome to make sure they can keep Mansur safe
Friendly bear: Mansur licks the hand of one of his protectors who rescued him – twice
After recently outgrowing his enclosure at the Orlovka airdrome, he has been moved to a new temporary home at a larger airdrome.
Thanks to support from pilots across Russia, Mr Ivanov is now working on building a new bear permanent enclosure, incorporating a cargo container to make sure he can be moved if needed.
‘Bears live for 30-40 years, and I am not going to abandon him,’ vowed Mr Ivanov.’I don’t know what is going on to happen at the airdrome in some five years.
‘But if I have a container, it will be possible to move the bear to any new place and provide the most comfortable adaptation for him.’
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