Artyom Kodenkov, 31, cheated death after a brown bear attacked him in the Primorsky region of Russia – he is now recovering in hospital after being left with severe injuries all over his body
A Russian man who survived a brown bear attack has described the terrifying moment he heard his bones crunch in the animal’s jaws. Artyom Kodenkov, 31, revealed from hospital how he cheated death in the country’s Primorsky region.
With his head bandaged from wounds inflicted by the predator, the survivor told a local TV station how he ran across a bear protecting two cubs. “I was climbing a hill,” he said. I heard it growling, and half a second later it was in front of me on its hind legs, as tall as me. We started to fight, rolled down the hill, flew about 10 metres [33ft], and it immediately bit me on the head.
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“I heard my bones crunching in its jaws.” He added: “I defended myself desperately.” Artyom said he thought about his wife and daughters during the encounter – and while he knew the odds were stacked against him surviving alive, he didn’t give up fighting.
“I thought about my children, I thought that I had to live,” said Artyom. “I didn’t give in to him, he wanted to rip my stomach apart. I didn’t let him. With my hands and feet, I fought him off. I even unclenched his fangs with my fingers…”
At some point, he said blood was gushing from him and he thought this was the end, as he no longer had power to fight back against the beast. “[In the end] I just gave up, and that’s it,” he said. “I thought, let him tear me, do what he wants. I had no strength to fight.”
Eventually, this saved him as the bear thought Artyom was dead, and just wandered off, he explained. “The bear walked away,” he said. Exhausted with blood pouring from him, but unable to move, he called for help while fearing no-one would hear, or the bear might return.
He said: “I was shouting ‘Help!’ There were some blokes in the forest. They came to my aid, dragged me to the road, and got me to the nearest village. I wasn’t thinking about anything really, just about my children – that I had to stay alive.”
Artyom was rushed from Lenino village to Chuguyevka hospital with lacerations on his face, head, neck, legs, and thighs and broken facial bones. Later he was moved to Regional Clinical Hospital No. 2 in Vladivostok city for specialist treatment.
Maxillofacial surgeons restored his face using titanium plates. Face surgeon Aleksei Romanchuk said: “We also carried out additional surgical treatment, applying all the principles of plastic and reconstructive surgery as far as possible in the case of bite wounds. I believe the patient is going to be just fine.” The victim will remain in hospital for several weeks before being reunited with his family.
Last year, a raging brown bear mauled a father and son to death after breaking into their home in the Primorsky region just hours after it killed 35 dogs in a shelter. Hunting inspectors were immediately ordered to track down and kill the bear after it was feared it could strike again – and hours later, they found and shot the predator.
Police had cordoned off the village and stood guard to protect terrified locals. A night curfew was also imposed.