A provocative photo shoot featuring Russian models cuddling a 650kg bear for an anti-hunting campaign has driven a wedge among social media users in Russia and overseas. Some praise the women’s courage, while others label the pics 'creepy’.
Models Maria Sidorova, 21, and Lydia Fetisova, 22, get scarily close to their 18-year-old partner, a brown bear named Stepan (called Stephen by foreign media.)
Sidorova told Komsomolskaya Pravda daily that taking part in photo shoots with animals, including bears, is
"not scary at all."
"Despite the fact that I was in a duet with a huge, heavy and sharp-clawed beast, I was sure he wouldn’t intentionally injure me, and the trainers kept close tabs on us," she said.