Six out of eight species of bear threatened with extinction

SIX out of the eight species of bear in the world are threatened with extinction, conservationists warned yesterday.

The world’s smallest bear, the sun bear, is classed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of the Threatened Species following a new assessment by specialists.

The bear, which lives in south-east Asia, Sumatra and Borneo, was previously listed as “data deficient” because not enough was known about the species.