'Junkie' Russian bears getting high by sniffing aircraft fuel fumes

The huge creatures inhale the fumes of the fuel deeply before digging a shallow hole and lying back as the effects kick in.

Russian photographer Igor Shpilenok, 52, who spent seven months with the community of bears, said that some of the addicted bears even stalked helicopters, waiting for the take off and drops of fuel to leak onto the hard soil for them to sniff, the Mirror reported.

Representational picture

He added that in one case a helicopter brought a few barrels of gasoline and workers of the nature reserve didn't take them in time and a female bear named Suzemka - apparently fascinated by the smell - used the opportunity and seems to be one of the addicts now.

The reserve in the far east of Russia, which covers 225,000 hectares of land, is home to more than 700 brown bears.u00a0