ukrainian animal trainer survives

Author : DPA

Category : Nature (Environment)

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Kiev - A Ukrainian animal trainer survived a bear attack that left him

unconscious and under water for close to four minutes, a local media

report said Friday. The incident took place near the town Novy Rozdol

in the western Lviv region, after Volodymyr Herbovy, working for the

travelling circus Europa, decided to bathe his trained bear Mishka in

a lake during warm weather.

The female brown bear turned on Herbovy and forced him under the

water, Fakty newspaper quoted witnesses as saying.

The animal abandoned Herbovy after he stopped moving. Passers-by

distracted the animal by shouting and throwing rocks.

Vasyl Parashchak, a water services officer for Ukraine's Ministry of

Emergency Situations, arrived on the scene and was able to pull the

Herbovy out of the water.

A subsequent attempt by the bear to attack her unconscious trainer was

beaten off with a fishing pole abandoned by fisherman on the bank of

the lake, Parashchak said.

"I hit her several times on the snout, and she went away," he said.

"It was not a pleasant feeling to see the bear coming at me."

The emergency worker attempted to resuscitate Herbovy without success.

An initial check by an ambulance team arriving on the scene showed the

animal trainer's pulse and breathing to have stopped.

Medical workers working overnight brought Herbovy back to

consciousness. He was listed in serious but stable condition, and is

expected to recover fully, said Olha Sheludko, chief doctor of the

Novy Rozdol district hospital.

Another two or three minutes underwater would have been fatal to

Herbovy, Sheludko said.

Circus workers recovered the bear without incident. The evening show

went on as scheduled, although Mishka did not perform.

Managers at Europa Circus declined comment on the incident.