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A Siberian man has the march of technology to thank after fighting off a charging bear with a discarded computer, it's been reported.

The encounter occurred at a rubbish dump in a village near Tomsk in western Siberia, where both man and bear were scavenging, . The villager was searching for metals to sell, and was charged by the animal which was looking for food. Local ranger Sergei Yelnikov says the unnamed man threw the old computer, which was the first thing that came to hand, causing the bear to flee. "The villager hardly suffered at all; he injured his hand when throwing the device at the bear," Mr Yelnikov says. According to , a 24-hour search found no trace of the animal.

It's not unusual for hungry bears to cross into human settlements when food is scarce, RT says. "There is not enough food for bears as the year is lean," Mr Yelinkov tells , noting that some animals are so hungry they are resorting to cannibalism. "I know four bears that were killed by their own species in our district," he says.

Earlier this year a man was saved from a bear attack in the north-eastern Sakha Republic thanks to his mobile phone, the Moscow Times adds. The device switched itself on mid-mauling, scaring the bear away.

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