
Jaw-dropping pictures show an enormous 50-stone grizzly bear cuddling up to children in the forest.

Astonishing snaps show the youngsters fearlessly frolicking and posing with the brown beast in Moscow.

The tame bear, called Stepan, was adopted by Russian couple Svetlana and Yuriy Panteleenko aged just three months after being discovered by hunters in the forest, having lost his mother.

Jaw-dropping pictures show an enormous 50-stone grizzly bear cuddling up to children in the forest in Moscow, Russia

The bear, called Stepan, was adopted by Russian couple Svetlana and Yuriy Panteleenko aged just three months after being discovered by hunters in the forest, having lost his mother

And now he is so tame that he happily poses for pictures with even very young children (this little girl offers him a smell of her basket of flowers)

Stefan, who is more than seven feet tall, is so well-behaved that he even lets people sit on his back as if he were a horse

The huge grizzly, who stands taller than seven foot, eats a hefty four stone of fish, vegetables and eggs a day.

He has been known to help out around the house - or at least in the garden - by watering the plants.

And he likes nothing more than to snuggle up with his adoptive parents to watch television in the evening.

'He absolutely loves people and is a really sociable bear - despite what people might think, he is not aggressive at all. We have never been bitten by Stepan,' said his adoptive owner Svetlana

She added: 'He's got so many talents and loves a picnic. It's a wonder he doesn't eat us out of house and home'

Stefan loves cuddling up for pictures (above he poses with a young girl, letting her lie across his enormous back)

Svetlana said: 'When we adopted him, he was only three-months-old and had been found by hunters in the forest having lost his mother. He was in a very bad condition.

'He absolutely loves people and is a really sociable bear - despite what people might think, he is not aggressive at all. We have never been bitten by Stepan.

'He's got so many talents and loves a picnic. It's a wonder he doesn't eat us out of house and home.'

The huge grizzly eats a hefty four stone of fish, vegetables and eggs a day (above he accepts a basket of flowers offered to him by a little girl)

He has even been known to help out around the house - or at least in the garden - by watering the plants (above he stands shoulder-to-shoulder with a youngster in a flowery dress)

Photographer Olga Barantseva, who took the astonishing pictures, said: 'The bear is really friendly. He loves hugging people. He's just like a very big dog'

Photographer Olga Barantseva, who took the astonishing pictures, said: 'The bear is really friendly. He loves hugging people. He's just like a very big dog.

'Some of the children were scared at first but by the end it was hard to separate them.

'Every kid wants a big teddy bear after all.'