Ice-Skating Bears Not So Funny When They Attack You

A dancestravaganza with bears on ice skates?  Why didn’t we think of that?  Oh right, this is why (bear starts skating at 1:09 above):

The bear, who was wearing ice-skates when the incident occurred, attacked 25-year-old circus director Dmitry Potapov, dragging him across the ice rink by his neck and nearly severing one of his legs before relenting.

The show was being held in Kyrgyzstan, and one must imagine it was extremely delightful, until the bear killed that guy and sent another trainer to the hospital with “deep scalp lacerations” and “bruising of the brain.”  The bear was put to death for ruining “Bears on Ice” for everyone.  My favorite part of this story:  

The incident was not the first time a visiting Russian bear was involved in a deadly attack in Kyrgyzstan.

In 2002 a bear on loan from Russia to the Bishkek city zoo attacked and killed a small child who had reached out to pet it.

In that incident, local experts blamed the animal’s aggressive behaviour on its severe malnourishment.

Now there is nothing funny about bears mauling children.  But I thought we all learned at a pretty young age that puppies get sad when you don’t feed them.  That is equally true of bears.  Except bears will kill you.  This is like Bears 101, first day of class.

Unfortunately for “Bears on Ice,” the show may not go on.  As they say in former Soviet bloc showbiz, “It’s not over until the severely malnourished ice-skating bear mutilates and kills someone.  But at that point, yes, it is over.”  Because in Soviet Russia… severely malnourished ice-skating bear has the last laugh at YOU!!!

Source: AFP.