Bear Cubs That Is!

We had 2 ophaned black bear cubs brought to our attention today and my work partner went and recover them this afternoon.

The small female mother bear picked a very poor spot for a den, she burrowed into the side of a ditch bank adjacent to a rural road. This winter the private forest beyond the ditch was logged, this activity combined with the recent high spring run-off water in the ditch, caused the mother to vacate the den early. Wolves detected the den and were seen digging at it, which drew the attention of the local people in the area. Tracks in the snow indicated that the mother bear had not been to the site in two days; she may have been scared off, hit on the road by a vehicle or predated by the wolves.

The bear cubs were quite weak when first captured but with some warmth (we had a snowstorm here today) and food (pablum) they are recovering nicely.

So the 2 five pound balls-of-fur (caked in mud) are destined to take a 300 mile roadtrip with me tomorrow to a wildlife rehabilitation centre, where they will be raised with limited human contact until they are old enough to release back into the bush.

Cool stuff and my daughters have a really, neat story to tell at school on Monday!

Mike