It’s been above zero for a number of days. The sort of situation when bears may wake up. Just got a warning not to go into the woods between Kandalaksha and Luvenga no matter how bad is the need to take a leak. It is because of a big hungry bears is rotten mood that in their cute cub days were taught that humans mean food. Now it is “either bring food or I may make **you** my meal”.
Kandalaksha nature experts are asking me to spread the message along English-speaking travellers that bears are not to be fed no matter how small. Otherwise they associate humans with food, with all the ugly bloody consequences. No, gratitude, I’m afraid, is a human trait and not a very common among us either. Animals are merely conditioned to form associations. In this case it between humans and food, which is just one small step to “humans ARE food”.