- Footage shows a bear being paraded on stage in the Russian city of Syktyvkar
- But the animal suddenly lunges forward before knocking its master to the floor
- Brown bear looks set to savage the man before an assistant beats it with a stick
- The beast immediately retreats and continues with its circus tricks on stage
This is the shocking moment a circus bear viciously attacks its handler on stage – then goes back to performing tricks after being hit with a stick.
Footage shows the animal being paraded in front of an audience of mainly children in sub-Arctic city Syktyvkar, capital of Russia’s Komi Republic.
But the bear suddenly lunges forward, knocking its master to the floor and appears ready to savage him.
Cries are heard from the audience who fear the worst as the handler falls backwards out of view.
Footage captures the moment a circus bear viciously attacks its handler on stage – then goes back to performing tricks after being hit with a stick
The video shows the animal being paraded in front of an audience of mainly children in sub-Arctic city Syktyvkar, capital of Russia’s Komi Republic before it launches its attack
The bear suddenly lunges forward, knocking its master to the floor and appears ready to savage him
But an assistant then beats the animal with a long stick and the animal retreats before carrying on with its performance as if nothing had happened.
The handler – moments from death – jumped to his feet and continued offering treats to the brown bear.
The horrific scene, recorded by a member of the audience, raises questions about the use of wild animals as performing circus animals.
The Melanzh circus troop, from Perm in the Urals, claimed that the handler was not hurt.
Cries are heard from the audience who fear the worst as the handler falls backwards out of view. But an assistant then beats the animal with a long stick (pictured) and the animal retreats before carrying on with its performance as if nothing had happened
The horrific scene, recorded by a member of the audience, raises questions about the use of wild animals as performing circus animals
Circus representative Oleg told Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper: ‘The handler and the bear lost their understanding for a moment.
‘It can happen any time. Similar cases happen with dogs, but we didn’t make a fuss about it.
‘Everyone present at the show could see that no-one got injured. And the handler stood on his knees in front of the bear and hugged him.’