The 7ft, 47stone bear who came to tea!

IT’S not every day a 47-stone, 7ft brown bear joins you for tea.

Actually, it is... for Russian couple Svetlana and Yuriy Panteleenko.

They adopted their cuddly giant as a cub – and named him Stepan.

While they stop short of telling him not to put his furry elbows on the table, Stepan has otherwise become so domesticated they have no qualms about letting him sit at the table with them.

The 23-year-old bear also likes to cuddle up on the sofa as they watch television and enjoys playing catch with a ball in the garden. He has even been known to try to help with the chores – by clutching a watering can between his paws when they are tending their garden.

Stepan became separated from his mother when he was three months old. Mr Panteleenko, a professional circus trainer, raised him to be people-friendly.

Just like his fairytale cousins in Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Stepan enjoys a bowl of porridge.

But he also puts away at least 55lb of fish, vegetables and eggs a day – while his favourite treat is a can of condensed milk. ‘Stepan likes nothing more than to cuddle up with us on the sofa at night while we’re watching television,’ Mrs Panteleenko said at the couple’s home in Moscow. ‘When we

‘He has so many talents’

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.’

Last year Stepan appeared in a surreal Teddy Bear’s Picnic-themed photo shoot.

A Russian model and her young daughter brought the song to life – feeding, hugging and even sitting astride the huge bear.

The model, known only as Irina, was initially nervous about taking part in the shoot. But after meeting Stepan, she asked if her daughter Katya could be involved.

Photographer Olga Barantseva said at the time: ‘This bear is so tender with the models that the [fear] disappears very fast. And even a small girl after a short time of hesitation was happy to pose. The bear is sweet but he is a big animal and gets tired very easily.’