Friday, January 14, 2005 Posted: 1:42 PM EST (1842 GMT)

TALLINN, Estonia (Reuters) -- Estonia's warmest winter for two centuries has woken some of its 600 bears several months early from hibernation, wildlife experts said on Friday.

The bears' early reappearance has raised concerns for the survival of this year's cubs.

"It has been very warm and wet and many flooded rivers have forced bears out of their dens and out of hibernation," said Kalev Manniste, a senior official at the Baltic country's State Forest Service.

"Just a few days ago a hunter was telling me that he saw a she-bear with a very small cub walking across the field," he told Reuters.
"The cub the hunter saw looked too small to survive the winter."

She-bears normally give birth to tiny walnut-sized cubs during their winter hibernation and suckle them for months as they grow, before the spring thaw awakens the mother and she leaves her den.

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