Photos have surfaced capturing the moment Natalya Pasternak, 55, was found barely alive after a brutal bear attack in Russia’s Amur Oblast in 2015. The mother-of-three was left critically injured, with her legs “gnawed to the bone” and scalp torn, yet against all odds, she survived the horrific encounter. Pasternak’s miraculous rescue and rapid recovery after weeks in the hospital remain a source of fascination and admiration.
The attack occurred while Pasternak, a postal worker, was gathering birch sap in a forest near Tynda with a friend. The bear—a four-year-old female—unexpectedly attacked, leaving her with severe injuries and half-buried as the predator prepared to save her as a future meal. A dog accompanied them, but its barking did little to deter the bear. Pasternak attempted to escape but paused, realizing her elderly friend might not make it. In that brief hesitation, the bear pounced, reported by the Mirror.
When hunters arrived on the scene, they encountered a grisly sight: Pasternak’s bloodied body partially covered with dirt, leaves, and sticks, only her arms sticking out. They immediately shot the bear, finally ending its deadly grip over her. Shocked to find her alive, one rescuer said, “The bear evidently thought the woman was dead and sought to bury her to hide its prey,” reported The Siberian Times. Her first words upon rescue were a question to the hunters: “Have you killed the bear?”
In an interview, Pasternak recounted the fear and resignation she felt during the attack. “A quick thought hit me: If the bear takes my legs, I’ll be disabled for the rest of my life. It’s better to die than to be a burden to my children,” she told a Siberian newspaper. Despite the attack’s brutality, she stayed mentally resilient, finding comfort in prayer. “A prayer that I was screaming out loud helped me,” she said.
Her friend Valentina, who managed to escape to a nearby water treatment facility and called for help, proved instrumental in her survival. Alone with the bear, Pasternak endured the animal’s claws and teeth, later recounting, “Despite such a nightmare, I didn’t go mad.” The bear eventually dragged her into a shallow grave of leaves and twigs, guarding her as it would with prey.
Hunter Sergei Ivanov, who spotted the bear “guarding its prey,” acted quickly, killing the animal and rescuing Pasternak. Recalling the harrowing scene, Ivanov described finding “only her bloodied face and one arm sticking out, but she was alive and breathing.”
Pasternak was rushed to the hospital in severe shock, where she spent several weeks recovering. Though the physical scars remain, she expressed deep gratitude for her friend Valentina, saying, “It’s terrible to imagine what could have happened if it wasn’t for Valentina.”