MOSCOW, September 6. /TASS/. Veterinarians treating a polar bear rescued in Siberia have found multiple gunshot wounds, but the predator is expected to recover soon, the Russian environmental watchdog’s chief, Svetlana Radionova, said on Tuesday.
"A veterinarian has performed a checkup of the bear injured on Dikson Island. Multiple gunshot wounds have been found - scars made by bullets of various diameters were spotted on the animal’s body. According to the doctor, the animal was shot with a hand-made buckshot weapon," she wrote on her Telegram channel.
According to preliminary evaluation, the bear cannot move its hind legs due to spinal cord swelling. "If this suggestion is confirmed, we can make a favorable forecast. Now the bear is being given antibiotics and painkillers. A more precise conclusion will be provided later as soon as a detailed analysis of X-ray photographs is carried out," she said.
On Monday, the environmental chief reported that an injured female polar bear was found on Dikson Island in the Krasnoyarsk Region. The animal has been airlifted to Moscow for treatment.
According to the watchdog, this is the second time when polar bears have approached people in Dikson over the past two months.
In late July, a polar bear who got a metal can stuck in its mouth was rescued from near death by Moscow veterinarians. The can was successfully removed and the animal was released into the wild.
Polar bears are listed in the International Red Book and the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation. According to experts, there currently are 22,000 to 31,000 polar bears in the world. Polar bears, the biggest land predators, spend most of their life on drifting Arctic ice.