A Russian man ran into a bear in a raspberry field last week and quickly realized the animal was going to attack. But the 80-year-old had no intention of giving in. When the bear got close, he brought the rain.
Yusuf Alchagirov kicked the bear, head-butted the confused animal and even tried to kill it with a knife.
He didn’t disable the furry fury but he was able to take it by surprise enough to survive the ordeal.
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The bear fought with the shepherd for several minutes and then, apparently done with the old man, threw him off a cliff before meandering away.
"I got off easy," Yusuf told The Guardian. "It would have killed me if I'd chickened out."
Easy might be a stretch. Yousef was hospitalized with broken ribs, bruises and bite wounds -- all of which sounds better than the alternative.
Officials in the Russian region of Kabardino-Balkaria say they are not going to hunt the bear because they think it was “just playing with” Yusuf.
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