Imagine a situation: a den, winter — a female bear is sleeping with her grown cub. It’s December outside, a severe frost, and they need to sleep until March. In the spring, she will set off on her journey through the wild forest, and her son will remain nearby until he’s around 1.5–2.5 years old!
But right around New Year’s, somewhere outside, an enraged dog’s barking is heard! A dozen angry dogs, which have long been trained to attack bears, start snarling and barking right at the den, drooling heavily. The “nanny” clings to his mother in fear, and the female bear freezes in anticipation. She’s scared! She, immersed in sleep, is literally jolted by nerve impulses from this sudden awakening.

A minute later, a burning torch flies into the den, painfully scorching the cub’s hide, and his mother goes to protect her child. She rushes outside with a roar and sees several armed hunters in front of her!
The command “Fire!” — and the female bear is shot at close range. Bullets pierce her body, shatter her facial bones; hot blood literally floods the white snow! The bear’s body falls at the feet of the people amid the same deafening barking of dogs.

After that, the dogs break into the den and, biting through the cub’s hide, drag him outside. When the cub tries to snap back, trembling with fear, a heavy boot strikes him!
“Nanny, what are we gonna do?”
“Let’s take him to base, train the dogs! Semyonych asked for him a while ago.”
The cub is beaten several times so he doesn’t resist, stuffed into a sack, and thrown into an old UAZ. Meanwhile, they strip the hide off his mother right there on the spot.
THIS IS REALITY!
Everything described above is a constant practice, which is fully official in our country. Bear cubs from one year old can be killed, as they are considered “hunting resources,” and in 2020, the Ministry of Natural Resources “pushed through” amendments allowing bears to be killed up to December 31 each year — when bears are already hibernating, some with their cubs, and many pregnant, giving birth right in their dens in winter.
And yes — it’s impossible to know if there are bear cubs in the den before the mother bear is killed! Nor can you determine if the female bear is pregnant. That is only discovered after the killing.
By law, it’s forbidden to kill bear cubs under one year old, so they are either quietly killed “out of pity,” or left to die of hunger in the cold. In any case, the cub is doomed! As for older ones — they’re either killed or taken to hunting bases to train dogs.
That’s exactly what we’ll be discussing in this material.
BAITING STATIONS
I received a letter yesterday from two different people at once. Let me quote them.
Tatyana writes:
“I ask you to help spread information that from January 24 to 26, in the Okulovsky District, personal and team competitions for laikas, with a captive bear, ranked as the Russian Championship, took place. Dog handlers from 16 regions of Russia, as well as from Belarus, took part in the event. Experts evaluated 136 dogs. Since the dogs attack the animal in pairs, it turns out that over the course of the championship, the bear had to withstand 68 rounds. (Link to the news from the page of the ‘Novgorod’ newspaper and from the page of the Chairman of the Committee for Hunting and Fisheries of the Novgorod Region.) Is baiting still not banned?”
Then a letter arrived from Ekaterina:
“Hello! Pavel, what is your opinion on baiting stations? A few days ago, there was news. Aren’t contact baitings prohibited? Pavel, please tell people more about these stations. Thank you.”
Let’s examine this issue closely.
Baiting stations are sites or complexes where hunting dogs are trained on live animals (bears, badgers, wild boars, foxes, etc.). The purpose of such “baiting” is to develop certain hunting skills in the dog: aggression toward the prey, the ability to track and hold it. The most high-profile (and cruel) form is baiting with a bear, since it often involves young or specially weakened bears, sometimes locked in small enclosures, with their claws removed or teeth filed down.

This is precisely the story I described above about the bear cub whose mother was killed. In 90% of cases, this tragedy is repeated time and time again across the country — that is exactly how bear cubs are “obtained” for dog baiting.
And people are right to ask the question “But wasn’t bear-baiting by dogs banned in the country?”
Indeed, such “moves” were made, but only in the form of imitating actual restrictions, while in reality, baiting stations continue to legally exist.
Our main law regulating the treatment of animals is the Federal Law of December 27, 2018, No. 498-FZ ‘On Responsible Treatment of Animals…’. It contains many different clauses, but this area has always been legally “gray,” and everyone interpreted the law in their own way!
In 2020–2021, the public demanded the government ban baiting stations due to major scandals where bear cubs were chained up and literally torn to pieces alive. Officials, to reduce public discontent, added some provisions regarding “unacceptable cruelty.” But even then, baiting stations were not subjected to any real restrictions; only obviously unworkable formalities were introduced:
- Having enclosures equipped according to zoological and veterinary standards.
- Following veterinary rules for the health and well-being of wild animals.
- Minimizing direct contact (for example, using protective muzzles on the animal or special barriers so the dog cannot seriously injure the animal, and vice versa).
- Prohibiting injuries to the animal (removing teeth, claws, “cutting vocal cords,” etc.).
In reality, these norms were devised merely as “cover,” to quell public outrage. Practically, the implementation of these requirements is not monitored, and to this day, all baiting stations operate exactly as they did before!

Furthermore, our country’s hunting community is growing rapidly, and already a third of all publicly accessible forest areas has been turned over to private hands. In recent years, a whole spectrum of bills has been introduced under “sport and entertainment” hunting, expanding methods and opportunities for even more animal killings.
Also, “tourism” for trophy hunters from around the world has been established — they come here, including from Europe and the United States, to “kill” animals on a “Russian safari.” I wrote a separate piece about that.
Hence, considering the enormous commercial interests, sport hunting not only prospers, but is also rapidly gaining popularity in our country! And naturally, even such cruel practices as baiting dogs on wild animals continue on an even larger scale than ever.
We all understand that dogs tear the bear apart while it’s still alive. We understand that dogs are taught to “tear the bear” with the sole goal of finding more and more animals in the Russian Taiga for further killings. There is no other purpose for this practice!
And we also fully realize that even those “formalities” introduced into the law will not be enforced. Especially given that hunting grounds are now “private property,” with forests purchased under a 50-year lease!
It’s also important to note that the competitions (mentioned in the letters I received) serve as a sort of legislative loophole: formally, they’re called “canine events” and “tests of working qualities,” not “baiting.”
LET’S SUM IT UP
Once again, let me quote a line from Ekaterina’s letter: “Pavel, how do you feel about baiting stations?”
The baiting of dogs on bears and other wild animals continues all over the country; I see no real restrictions except “formality.” Nor are there any indications of looming bans, given the aggressive promotion of the sporting-kill industry as a whole.
This summer, we barely stopped a Ministry of Natural Resources bill that aimed to allow the killing of bears throughout the winter — right up to spring. I can’t even imagine anything more horrific, yet our officials not only imagined it, they genuinely tried to legalize it. And they’ll try again soon, I’m sure.
Therefore, talking about any sanity regarding these “baiting stations” is impossible right now. All of this continues to flourish, likely on an even larger scale.
I am against any sporting and recreational killing of wild animals. I have advocated and will continue to advocate for a complete ban on sport hunting — a practice that has long been outdated and is not only archaic but thoroughly disgusting.
We live in an era of global species extinction on this planet: in just the last 50 years, people have wiped out over 73% of all animals! They’re gone. Another little push, and we’ll finish off the rest…
I’m convinced that 99% of those who support recreational hunting don’t even know this. And if they do find out, they refuse to believe it, no matter how firm the scientific evidence!
For some reason, many consider it their “right” to entertain themselves in the wild by shooting live targets. Arriving armed to the teeth in the wilderness for a single purpose: killing.
Today, the paid-kill industry is one of the most actively promoted sectors in our country! Many regions have chosen to develop “sport hunting.”
In our “Concept of Territories of Complete Ecological Tranquility,” I presented maps of Kamchatka outlining the boundaries of hunting grounds and nature reserves. Many believe Kamchatka is a pristine region, but that’s not the case: it has already turned into a giant range for paid recreational killings, welcoming “trophy hunters” from around the world.
I believe everyone should open the Concept and look at these maps to understand the scope of the paid-kill industry.
We have very few opportunities to influence such global problems today! And yet we try. Right now, we’re pushing the TPEZ Concept and will continue working for its adoption. We’ve also launched two public initiatives: one to ban officials from engaging in sport hunting (which would stop many bills), and another to fully repeal the Ministry of Natural Resources’ decree on killing bears during hibernation.
Meanwhile, bear cubs continue to be taken from their mothers to be chained up for training hunting dogs. And right now, somewhere, that very little bear cub I wrote about at the beginning of this piece is licking its bloody wounds, awaiting the next “tournament” to the deafening sound of barking dogs and the applause of armed people.
© PAVEL PASHKOV
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