Experts on the trail of Russia's killer bears

MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- A team of experts gathered Friday on Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula to decide how to deal with marauding bears that reportedly have killed two people recently.

The bears are blamed for the deaths of two guards at a geological station near a platinum mine on the peninsula in far eastern Russia.

Russian media reports cite local law enforcement officials as saying the remains of the two men had been "gnawed on."

Groups of bears have been reported in the region since the deaths, and many people have refused to work at the mine, saying they are afraid.

Three hunters and a representative of Koryakgeoldobycha, employer of around 400 people at the mine, will evaluate the danger and decide whether killing a few animals is necessary, said Vladimir Rudeyev of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry in Kamchatka.

"All decisions are made locally," he told CNN. "No licenses [for shooting bears] have been issued yet. Reports came out that they were, but that's incorrect."

Hunters might need to kill only the most aggressive bears, he said. Generally, bears are timid animals and need only to be scared off.

Exterminating wild bears that are not afraid of humans is relatively common in Canada and the United States.

Trouble in northeastern Kamchatka began when the two unarmed geological station guards were found dead July 17. More than 93 miles (150 kilometers) away, about 20 bears came into another station several days later. Then, dozens more wild bears were seen 25 to 50 miles (40 to 80 kilometers) away, around various stations and villages in the area.

"Bears came out to where they used to live before," Rudeyev said. "It constantly happens on the Kamchatka Peninsula, on various rivers, places where people work."

Humans are to blame because they attract the animals by leaving out trash or they frighten bear cubs, turning them into aggressive grown-ups, he said.

Laura Williams, senior adviser for the World Wildlife Fund in Russia, also said it's the search for food that probably drives bears close to human camps. Kamchatka bears are used to feeding on salmon in the summer, but there have been fewer of the fish in local rivers this year because of overfishing, contamination or natural causes.

"When [bears] don't have salmon, they go into some of the settlements, creating bad situations both for themselves and people," Williams said. "When you're in bear country, it's important to know how to act when you meet a bear."

The Kamchatka Peninsula has long been known for its brown bear population, estimated at 8,000 to 12,000. In some areas of the peninsula, the population density is the greatest in the world.

Human deaths from bears are rare, and Williams said it would be an overstatement to say the situation this year is out of hand.

CNN's Mike Sefanov contributed to this report.

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