This year's first brown bear footprints have been spotted in the Onezhskoye Pomorye National Park in Russia's Arkhangelsk Region, Arctica-Info News Agency reports.

The bear tracks were first discovered close to Lake Ugolnoye by the residents of the Letnyaya Zolotitsa village. The national park employees retraced the tracks to find out where the bear had holed up during the winter.

"They found an open den," said Andrei Volkov, Doctor of Geography and the park's deputy director for scientific research. "The animal doesn't seem to have bothered to build a place to spend the winter, but simply went to sleep on the ground under a spruce."

After waking up, the bear spent some time around its den and then went out looking for food.

Brown bears are cautious and usually avoid people. They can attack humans if they are hungry, if they failed to build up enough fat before hibernating. However, bears usually do not feel hungry for around two weeks after waking up.