Welcome back to Scary Bear Attacks!
This weekend's episode takes us to familiar territory.
If you have watched our previous stories on Olga Moskalyova, Vitaly Nikolyenko and Alexey
Ivanovski then you will know we are talking about the Russian Far East.
We are returning to Kamchatka to a beautiful place called Lake Kurilskoye.
As you can see by our map, we are now near the center of 5 cases regarding attacks we
have previously discussed.
The Sankebetsu Bear attack on Hokkaido, The Kinshur Island attack, the Olga Moskalyev
attack, the Vitaly Nikolenko attack and the topic of today's episode.
If you are picking up on a pattern here, you are not the only one.
These islands are some of the most sparsely populated areas, yet we have documented some
of the most tragic, violent and unfortunate bear attacks ever.
After today’s episode you may agree with me, that this area of the world is most likely
the most dangerous in regard to deadly bear attacks.
The location is beautiful Lake Kurilskoye, with its clear waters and cool temperatures,
it receives very few visitors each year.
Any visitors that may find their way there might be photographers, researchers and possibly
fishermen, otherwise you can count on solitude, peace and bears, lots of bears.
Michio Hoshino is an extremely accomplished wildlife photographer, observer and researcher
in his mid forties.
He was born in Japan and moved to Alaska to photograph brown bears in the 70’s.
His photos, videos and artwork have brought the farthest corners of the world into the
canvas and lighting of galleries around the world.
In 1996, he was hired to do photography on a documentary about brown bears.
The first few days of filming went great, but on day three the photography crew lucked
up on a very large male brown bear that did not mind the crew approaching within a few
yards of him while he fished.
The bear would simply ignore the crew and they recorded some amazing footage of the
giant bruin as it gorged itself on salmon just a few meager yards away from their lenses.
The next day they returned to the same spot, and there he was again.
He seemed to relish the spotlight and played and showed off for the crews.
He was not aggressive or threatening in any way, even though the photographers would sometimes
approach within 5 yards to film him eating.
The crew continued this for a third day and decided to make the hike to the lake to watch
the big bear fish as part of their regular trip to gather footage.
The big bear seemed content as he pulled in huge salmon and effortlessly tore them apart
right in front of the crew.
Some of these fish weighed about half as much as some of the men.
It was on the fourth day, during the morning hike up the trail that the crew noticed large
piles of scat close to their camp in the trail to the big bears fishing hole.
They continued their hike and noticed his tracks and scat were placed over their boot
tracks in the trail from when they returned to camp the prior day.
Well, this is bear country and we are hiking on a bear trail, so a certain amount of that
can be expected.
The photography crew went on about their filming trek for the day, but when they got to the
big bear's fishing hole, he wasn’t there.
They were bummed but they could just return with a bunch of film of the same bear doing
the same thing anyway.
That would be boring.
They finished up with a few shots of a sow and cubs that they watched for the afternoon
and returned back to camp just before evening.
As the men made it down the hill to the main trail back to camp, they noticed more bear
scat.
It was the big boar's tracks and this time his tracks were in their boot tracks from
their hike up this morning.
That evening the Russian guide asked Michio if he would please consider sleeping inside
the cabin with the rest of the crew, as the presence of the bears tracks around camp indicated
a potential for danger.
Michio loved the sensation of being outside and sleeping in his tent under the stars so
he politely declined.
Afterall, he had had over twenty years of filming and photographing bears and other
wildlife this way, and wasn’t feeling threatened by the presence of the bear.
The guide deferred to the preferences of the experienced photographer and they all retired
to their beds for some rest and relaxation.
After dinner and conversation, Michio made his way the short distance from the cabin
back to his tent.
He didn’t have any food in his tent and nothing else tempting for bears like sweets,
or flavored drinks.
He didn’t pack a firearm and didn’t see a need for bear spray while you were sleeping.
He positioned his sleeping bag just beneath the window in the tent so he could stare out
at the stars and feel the fresh air on his face while he slept.
He curled up in his sleeping bag, in his tent, on the shore of Lake Kuril and allowed the
lapping of the water on shore to lull him to sleep.
As Michio slept, around 4 AM, the big bear crept up on him and sniffed his scent through
the tent window.
Upon smelling Michio the bear pounced on the sleeping man, biting his shoulder and swatting
him with his paws.
The bear tore apart Michios' tent while wrenching the man from his sleeping bag.
Michio yelled in pain which woke his sleeping teammates.
The Russian guide and other campers ran outside and watched by flashlight as Michio disappeared
into the woods, dragging behind the running bear.
The rest of the crew could only look on as their associate and friends life was taken
before their eyes.
Authorities were notified and a recovery crew was assembled and helicoptered in to the site.
Michio’s mutilated and partially consumed body was recovered as well as his tissues
from the bear's stomach.
The attack was deemed a strictly predatory attack, in fact the bear followed and stalked
the crew members for several days as evidence shows.
The world lost not only an amazing photographer, videographer and children's book author but
a father, son and husband.
He is survived by his wife, Naoko, and a son, Homa, both of Fairbanks.