A bear broke into a traditional nomadic tent in the Bayanzurkh district near Ulaanbaatar, killing a man in his forties and seriously injuring a woman in her fifties before fleeing into the surrounding hills.
The deadly encounter took place overnight on Wednesday in the Uliastai Bourkhantiin am area, according to reports from city officials and local emergency services. The attack occurred inside a traditional Mongolian nomadic tent-like structure known as a ger. The male resident died at the scene, while the female resident, aged 55 according to local reports or in her 50s as noted by city officials, managed to escape and alert neighbors in an account detailed by the Agence France-Presse. Emergency responders transferred the surviving woman to the National Center for Trauma and Orthopedic Surgery for urgent medical care.
Bear Sightings Near Ulaanbaatar Rise to 24
City official Munkhbayar M reported that capital authorities recorded 24 bear sightings near Ulaanbaatar this year alone, a steep rise from just two sightings documented in 2018.
Emergency Responses and Budgetary Allocations for Wildlife Control
Local authorities, including the Emergency Management Agency of the Capital City and the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, responded to the crisis by deploying a team of rangers to search for the animal responsible for the attack. Public safety warnings have been issued across the region, advising residents living near mountain and forest zones to remain highly vigilant, secure food waste, and avoid leaving young children unattended.
The capital’s emergency office received 28 reports of bears entering the urban perimeter this year, though authorities subsequently determined that four of those alerts were false, including instances involving artificial intelligence-generated images. Beyond the capital, rural districts recorded roughly 80 home break-ins and over 30 incidents of livestock depredation. In response to the growing threat, bear-hunting permits have been authorized across eight provinces, with six bears already culled by authorities.