This is the terrifying moment a circus bear attacked its trainer in front of screaming children after he forcefully made the animal perform.
The roller-skating bear, a female called Dzhema, was being forced to perform tricks at the ironically named ‘Happiness Show’ at Mash Circus, Obnisk, Russia, on June 1.
Shocking footage captured by an audience member shows the trainer Oleg Krasov forcing Dzhema to sit in a chair with a pair of rollerskates tied to her rear paws.
Under the flourescent lights, the bear can be seen slouched in the seat as hundreds of faces around the venue peer out to watch the sick act unfold.
Suddenly, Krasov grabs the animal’s fur with two hands and pulls her up out of the chair, forcing her to stand on her hind legs.
Circus trainer Oleg Krasov was seen in footage dragging female bear Dzhema to her hind legs after she had been sitting on a chair
After pulling her across the circus floor on her rollerskates, Krasov walked away before the bear launched her revenge attack
Dzhema floored Krasov in an attack that sent parents rushing from the venue with their screaming children
He then forcefully drags Dzhema along the round, red, circus floor on her rollerskates before letting go of her and briskly walking off.
But as Dzhema drops to the ground, she begins leaping towards her cruel trainer while his back is to her.
Seeking her revenge, the bear charges towards Krasov until she strikes him, dragging him down onto the ground as he struggles to control the predator.
Waving his hands dramatically in front of him proves to be a useless method of getting Dzhema away from him as she holds her position on top of him while the audience members rise from their seats in panic.
Parents rush their screaming children from the arena while horrified circus workers dash onto the stage in an effort to tame the angered bear as she towers over Krasov.
According to local reports, Krasov survived the surprise attack without any serious injury.
Circus management later tried to pass off the attack as ‘normal’.
They said in a statement: ‘She did not hurt him at all. She was actually playing with him.
‘These are her normal actions. She loves him.’
It comes just less than two months after a bear attacked its handler in a Zaporizhizhia, Ukraine, circus in front of shocked spectators.
The trainer had fed the bear a ‘treat’ before the beast turned on him.
Footage from an onlooker caught the moment the brown creature jumped up on its hind legs and lunged towards the handler in the shock attack.
The bear tore the man’s shirt with its claws, leaving gaping holes in the material as the trainer fought to get the animal under control.
And last month, disturbing footage captured the sickening moment two bears were forced to box one another on their hind legs in front of a laughing audience at a cruel Russian circus.
A trainer was attacked in April by a bear after feeding it a treat during a performance in Ukraine
In disturbing footage from a Russian circus, bears can be seen wearing shorts as they stand under the venue’s fluorescent lights and fight in front of hundreds of cheering audience members
The wild beasts – removed from their natural habitats – could be seen dressed in shorts and wearing boxing gloves in shocking videos shared online.
The animals were made to perform in boxing rings under fluorescent lights in front of large and loud audiences in resorts like Sochi on the Black Sea.
Following an increasing number of reports of this ‘cruelty’, and as more shocking footage of such events is shared online, animal lovers are now calling for the practice to be demolished.
A petition from Russian animal rights campaigner Yuri Koretskikh against such cruel spectacles has been signed by more than 116,000 people.
However, circuses remain popular in Russia, and animals are traditionally a central element of performances.
Koretskikh heads the Russian Alliance of Animal Protectors which said: ‘While modern world circus art is rapidly moving towards humanity, banning the use of animals in circuses, the Russian circus lobby is actively resisting progress, defending its commercial interests.’
Recent polls show that the majority of respondents ‘no longer want to see animals suffer in circuses’, said the campaign.
