Bear man story turns out to be a Russian hoax
The tragic truth behind the story of an emaciated man claimed to have miraculously survived in a bear den in Russia for a month can be revealed today, according to a chief doctor.
The senior medic insists that his 41-year-old patient was never attacked by a wild beast but instead suffered from chronic psoriasis and other complications.
A harrowing video this week went viral after the Moscow media reported it showed a victim with a broken spine and severe body injuries.
The ‘living mummy’ named Alexander had been close to death in a predator’s lair the Tuva region of Russia, said a report from EADaily news agency.
But the doctor from Kazakhstan said this account was false and the man had not been in Russia nor encountered a wild beast.
The news agency and other Russian media reported that a brown bear had stashed the bearded man to eat later but dogs found him and barked until local hunters rescued him from his ordeal, it was claimed.
‘The bear preserved me as food for later,’ the man was quoted as saying.
But key aspects of the story soon unraveled, with background voices in the shocking video revealed as speaking Kazakh not the local Tuvan tongue in the region where the haggard victim was supposedly found.
And every hospital in mountainous Tuva region denied he had been their patient.
Now independent researchers have tracked down the chief doctor of Aktobe Medical Centre in Kazakhstan, Dr. Rustam Isaev, who insisted the man – named Alexander P – was his patient.
The man had been illegally filmed by medics and the footage released on the web, he said, vowing to find and ‘fire’ those responsible.
‘As a chief doctor here I’m saying you, this is our guy, he is not from Tuva nor anywhere else in Russia.’
He said: ‘Alexander P is a resident of Aktobe city in Kazakhstan.
‘He was treated in our hospital and at the end of this week was discharged, in satisfactory condition, into his mother’s care.
‘He suffers from psoriasis.
‘He had been lying at home, suffering from apathy, he did not want to live. He was in a depressive state.
‘He did not get treatment for his skin condition.
‘He neglected his psoriasis, and in such a state he was brought to us.
‘Now his mother has taken him away.’
He was continuing treatment as an outpatient.
A picture shows him in hospital in Aktobe, which is some 1,600 miles from Kyzyl, the area where the bear den incident was supposed to have happened.
Other pictures show the man before he contracted psoriasis.
The senior medic said the man’s mother did not want any further information released about her son’s condition.
She was ‘deeply upset’ over the video ‘purporting to show her son as the victim of a distressing bear attack’, said a family acquaintance.
The chief doctor is furious at the way footage of the naked man taken during a medical examination was leaked onto the web and then given a ‘false’ storyline.
The chief doctor is furious at the way footage of the naked man taken during a medical examination was leaked onto the web and then given a ‘false’ storyline
It was important to stop the ‘rumors’, he said.
‘Someone filmed him as he was undergoing a medical assessment and leaked this to YouTube,’ he claimed.
‘Then he was described as if he was found in a bear den in Tuva.
‘There was another version from Sochi (where reports, strongly denied locally, suggested that he had been found alive in a coffin.’
‘These are not true.
‘He is from Aktobe and lives in Kazakhstan.
‘He was brought to us about one week ago.’
He suffers from psoriasis but in his case worsened by his failure to seek medical treatment.
This included serious ‘bed sores’ from lying alone at home.
The chief doctor praised MailOnline for contacting him directly to ascertain the truth over the story.
‘You are the only media who sent a letter to us, the others just used him.
‘It was totally not correct and wrong,’ he said.
‘I am also trying to find out who filmed this….I am conducting an internal investigation.
‘Obviously, these were our [employees].
‘Maybe they were resending to each other and then it went further, as often happens.
‘Most likely these are young medical staff, who has no experience, who have never seen such patients.’
Neighbors of the Kazakh citizen confirmed his identity, and medical condition, saying the recognized the man shown on the ‘bear den’ video.
The man graduated from Aktobe State University in 1998.
While he was in the hospital, he told visitors that his mother and girlfriend were visiting him in hospital.
A local group searching for missing people had originally claimed the man in the video was from Aktobe not Tuva.
