It was an uneven fight before it started: an elderly Russian shepherd versus an aggressive bear which attacked him in a raspberry field.
But although he was bitten, kicked and thrown off a cliff, Yusuf Alchagirov is alive to tell the tale, reports Russian news agency, Ria Novosti.
The 80-year-old encountered the bear in a field in remote Kabardino-Balkaria, a mostly Muslim-populated region of southern Russia’s Caucasus mountains.
The bear charged him and Alchagirov fought back.
He kicked, headbutted and tried to stab the bear, which pushed him off a cliff.
The old man sustained four broken ribs and was treated in hospital for bite wounds and bruises.
Surviving an encounter with a grizzly is not unprecedented.
In October, a Canadian man fought off an attack by a black bear which charged him.
He saved himself by shoving his hand’s down the animal’s throat and pulling hard on its tongue.
Nevertheless, brown bears are more dangerous and the Canadian was much younger than Russia’s octogenarian shepherd.