Katherine Bradbury, age 11, of Scottsdale,Ariz., for her question:

DOES HIBERNATION HURT ANIMALS?

So far as we know, when an animal sinks into the deep sleep of hibernation he doesn't feel a thing. Actually he's in a sort of coma, unaware of everything around him and anything that might happen to him. His pulse, breathing and other body processes slow down to almost a stop. Nature intended him to stay that way until the first warm days of spring. But if he is taken into a warm room, he may be aroused and wake up.

However, sad to say, there are reasons why many animals never wake up from their winter hibernation. If their burrows are flooded they may drown. Some were too thin when they went into hibernation and without surplus fat they perish from malnutrition. But as a rule, the healthy ones survive to wake up in the spring  and they are no worse for their experience.