PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, January 25. /TASS/. A total of 60 aggressive bears who strayed into populated areas of Russia’s Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula were killed last year, the region’s administration said Wednesday.

"In 2016, a total of 60 bears who posed real threat to humans were shot. No humans were killed in bear attacks. For comparison, 59 bears were shot in 2015, while a total of four people were mauled by the carnivores, one of them fatally," the press service quoted the region’s deputy hunting chief, Andrei Lebedko.

Every municipality in the region had to set up groups of hunters to respond to citizens’ reports of bears wandering in local settlements. If a bear was aggressive or refused to leave, it was killed.

Kamchatka is home to some 20,000 bears.