"It's that time of year again, when the leaves are beginning to fall off the trees and animals prepare for hibernation" states the article That's Entertainment, which introduces Bill Oddie's new Autumnwatch wildlife programme (Weekend, September 30).

Hibernating animals in this country are unlikely to be disturbed during their dormant period but, in Russia, it is different.

Wealthy hunters pay more than US$2,000 each to rouse bears from hibernation and kill them.

The hunters' dogs dig and bark at the den and wake the bear while the hunters wait nearby with rifles poised. When the bear climbs out of its den, the hunters shoot without knowing if it is male or female.

As a result, hundreds of cubs just a few weeks old are left motherless with little or no chance of survival.

Many cubs are abandoned to die.

Some are taken from their dens and given to local villagers to be kept as pets. Others go to street photographers, mobile zoos, and circuses. There is also a demand for bear meat in hunting restaurants.

This cruel practice must stop.

In some areas of Russia, and in Western and Eastern Europe, brown bears are already extinct.

The bears being hunted in Russia are from the last healthy population in the world.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) is campaigning for a ban on killing hibernating bears but, in the meantime, is helping to rehabilitate Russian bear cubs orphaned by hunters so they can be released into protected forests.

Learn more on IFAW's website: www.ifaw.org

  • David Hammond, North Court, Hassocks