A Russian woman has survived an attack by a bear which partly buried her in the hope of returning later to feed on her body.

Natalya Pasternak, 55, was collecting birch sap with a friend in a forest near Tynda in the country’s Far East region when the beast attacked.

Her friend managed to beat it off with a branch and escape with a scratched back but the animal then threw itself on Ms Pasternak, clawing her shoulders, legs and head.

The four-year-old beast dragged its victim some distance and then covered most of her body with earth and debris. Bears are known to do this in order to return later and eat their prey.

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^{Rescuers found Natalya Pasternak half-hidden under a pile of leaves and soil (Tynda TV)}

Wildlife inspectors who rushed to the scene shot the bear and then discovered its victim half-hidden under a pile of leaves and soil a few yards away.

“The bear was protecting its ‘kill’,” Sergei Ivanov, a conservation official, told reporters.

“He didn’t want to share it with competitors and leapt out at the sound [of someone approaching]. I waited for him to get close and shot him from six metres - four times and a control-shot to the head.”

Only the woman’s head and arm were poking out, Mr Ivanov said. “She was conscious and her first words were, ‘Did you kill the bear?’” Video of the moment showed Ms Pasternak weakly waving her arm.

The victim was hospitalised and is now reportedly in a serious but stable condition after spending five hours on the operating table.

^{The bear was shot (Tatyana Nikolaeva/The Siberian Times)}

A picture from the scene of the attack showed the dead bear with a bloodied chest.

Birch sap is collected by fixing plastic bottles on the side of trees connected to an incision by a length of tube. It is drunk as a juice.

Bear attacks are rare in Russia, but the risk is higher in spring because the animals are hungry after coming out of hibernation and food remains scarce.