The key facts

  • The bear destroyed the hunter's skull bones; he spent three months in intensive care on a gastrostomy tube
  • Surgeon Alexei Dikarev's team rebuilt the upper jaw with a fibular graft and reconstructed the nose
  • The man has returned to independent eating and an active life, including hunting

The attack and severe injury

A hunter from the Russian Far East who survived a fight with a bear has undergone extensive facial reconstruction — this was reported by Krasnodar Teletype, as retold by Gazeta.Ru. While hunting, the man noticed a predator approaching, could not run away, and fought back. The bear severely wounded him and almost completely destroyed his skull bones: the victim was missing fragments of the facial skeleton and most of his upper jaw.

A year of recovery in Kuban

For three months the hunter lay in intensive care and could not feed himself: due to the loss of the oral cavity's seal, a gastrostomy tube was installed. Further recovery took place in Krasnodar Krai, where for a whole year the man was treated by a team of specialists led by surgeon Alexei Dikarev. Doctors restored part of the upper jaw using a fibular graft and reconstructed the nose. The oral cavity became sealed again, the gastrostomy was no longer needed, and the doctors also partially corrected the scars.

The result

According to the outlet, after the incident the man returned to an active life: he breathes and eats on his own and goes hunting again. Gazeta.Ru separately mentions that investigators had earlier advanced a version about a bear attacking the Usoltsev family; the publication does not clarify whether this episode is connected to the hunter's story described above.