According to LVM's representative Tomass Kotovičs, the bear only bit the leg of the man, who got to the hospital himself after the encounter.
Kotovičs said: "He heard a squeaking sound from the fir trees and thought it might be a rabbit. As usual, he clapped his hands so that the rabbit would leave, but a bear emerged from the trees and attacked the colleague."
The worker had tried to run but fell. The bear grabbed his leg, bit it, but then luckily deemed the Latvian State Forests employee inedible and ran back into the woods.
There is an increasing number of bears in Latvian forests. Damage caused by bears is also reported fairly frequently. According to Kotovičs, though bears are a protected species in Latvia, these kinds of situations should be looked at more closely to eliminate threats.
