A 11-year-old schoolboy has been mauled to death by two bears that dragged him inside their cage at an holiday resort in Sochi, Russia.
The youngster known as Nikita was reportedly thrown around ‘like a ball’ by the raging predators and killed while on holiday with his family, Metro UK reports.
He had been ‘showing off’ his ‘bravery’ in front of two girls by allegedly ‘provoking’ the beasts and slapping their paws.
Nikita was trying to pose for a photo in front of the caged animals, but he got too close and was dragged inside the cage by the bears.
The girls, who are around the same age as the victim, watched in horror as the bears clawed and bit their helpless friend, hurling him around their cage in the Russian Black Sea resort Sochi, best known for hosting the Winter Olympics in 2014.
They screamed for help and called their parents but by the time help arrived, it was too late to save the young boy.
Staff at the guest house shot both predators dead so that the boy’s motionless and bloody body could be retrieved.
An ambulance crew confirmed his death shortly after 6pm on Tuesday, August 4 and psychologists are now working with the traumatised girls.
An eyewitness claimed the boy had been ‘provoking the bears’, revealing;
He opened the gate, went in, wanting to take a picture. He slapped the bears’ paws to show how cool he was. A hole had been dug under the cage and they just pulled the boy through this. They were tossing him around like a ball. He was all broken.
Russian Investigative Committee said a criminal case has been opened into ‘causing death by negligence’ against the guest house owners.
