BearBear on the prowl

A group of cranberry pickers were held hostage overnight in their make-shift island camp by a bear.

The 12 pickers, including a pregnant woman, were harvesting the berries on an island in a Russian swamp when a brown bear approached them.

The group set up a bonfire, shooed the bear away with shouts and called the mainland for help.

Vladimir Shikov, one of three rangers who arrived and spent the night on the island, said they had planned to leave but were afraid they would encounter the bear again if they moved away from the camp.

The island is near Malaya Vishera, in the Novgorod region 450 kilometres (280 miles) northwest of Moscow and the pickers were mostly Gypsies, or Roma, from the area.

Shikov said the bear was believed to be about three years old and was probably not mature enough to attack humans but he added: “There was a certain element of danger,”

The rangers examined the bear’s tracks to make sure it was not nearby, and took the people to Malaya Vishera – a town of 17,000 in a region whose swamps and forests are home to abundant wildlife, including bears.

Russia’s bear population has increased in recent years as the amount of land under cultivation has decreased, with the human population dropping and youth leaving rural areas for cities.