Hunter killed and eaten by bear he rescued as a cub and kept as a pet

[Dracony]

A RUSSIAN hunter was killed and eaten to the bone by a raging brown bear he kept as a pet in a cage on his plot of land.

The man’s “skeletal remains” were found by police who went to his house after his relatives reported him missing and the beast on the loose.

The bear - raised by Sergey Grigoriyev, 41, after he found it as a cub - also killed and ate to the bone one of his three dogs.

Police in Ozersk, Chelyabinsk region, shot dead the aggressive bear which had earlier escaped from its cage.

Blood marks were seen on the snow from the fatal attack on the hunter.

A police statement said: “Officers used their service weapons to kill the dangerous animal.

“As a result of the measures taken, the bear does not pose a threat to citizens' lives and health any longer.”

Senior detective Alexey Petrov said: “The cage was open.

“The animal was walking around behaving aggressively.

“On the plot we found the skeletal remains of a man.”

Reports say Grigoriyev rescued the bear - named Vorchun or Grumbler - four years ago, along with another cub.

He raised the wild animal on his suburban plot.

He gave away one cub but kept the other after the only offer he had for it was from a “baiting station” - where hunting dogs are trained with live predators.

Such stations are notorious for their cruelty.

This attack come after a woman had her arm torn off by a bear at a Christmas party.

The Russian woman had bragged about how she could feed it through the cage, but when she attempted it, the bear took her arm for dessert.

A neighbour said he had shared tea with Grigoriyev but not seen him afterwards.

“We called him but he did not answer,” he said.

“When his relatives came, they saw a bear wandering around the plot.

“There was a dog with them.

“It attacked the bear, giving the people the opportunity to escape in the car.”

Petrov said a dog belonging to Grigoriyev and another that came with the relatives were killed and gnawed to the bone.

The bear had previously attacked its owner - a father - but he had ignored advice from friends to get rid of it.

The Russian Investigative Committee is examining the case.