Siberian hunters declare open season on bears after spate of deadly attacks

PODTESOVO, Russia, Oct 12 (Reuters) A brown bear bounds across the Siberian taiga before two hunters close in on their prey. Three shots ring out and the bear quickly drops dead in the long grass. Cradling his rifle as he rests his hand on the dead animal s fur, hunter Mikhail Kondakov says he and others have heeded requests from residents in the nearby settlement of Podtesovo after a fatal bear attack on local ​women. The bear situation in the settlement is very difficult at the moment,  Kondakov told Reuters. Bears have increasingly been coming directly into the settlement. This year ‌we had a tragedy — two women who went mushroom picking were killed by a man-eating bear. We decided to start hunting bears because there are so many of them. BEAR POPULATION HAS SPIRALLED OUT OF CONTROL The problem is nationwide. The Russian government said last month it was drawing up urgent measures to control the population of brown bears that has spiralled out of control in some regions, with a