A charitable organization called Black Bear Rescue Manitoba has rescued its first baby bear cub of the year. The group is responsible for saving dozens of bear cubs in the Canadian Province each year. On February 8th, they responded to a report about an abandoned black bear cub near Devils Lake.
Judy Stearns who owns and operates the organization provided more details. “The mother and cub were denned in a brush pile, and a log was removed from the brush pile, basically exposing their den, unbeknownst to the people involved. She would have been petrified. And so she took off and abandoned the cub. He wouldn’t have lasted very long in the cold. ”
Because the mother bear never returned, human intervention was needed to ensure the safety of the cub. Stearns estimates that the bear is roughly 2 or 3 weeks old. The cub was very tired, quite confused, and considerably hungry when he was brought into the facility. “A few feedings of that and he really perked up,” said Stearns. “He got very energetic!”
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Spring Is the Busy Season for Bear Cub Rescues
Stearns also said that if the rescue missions are starting in February, then it’s shaping up to be a busy spring. Most of the time bear cubs are brought into the rescue center because the mother bears have been hit by a car or shot. Other times it’s a mystery why the bear cubs get abandoned. “There will just be a cub wandering, and no clue what happened to the mother,” Stearns said.
Human activity, like startling the mother out of her den, is typically the main cause for mama bears abandoning their cubs. The number of cubs being left behind seems to be increasing in recent years too. Every year that Black Bear Rescue Manitoba has been in business, there has been an increase in the number of cubs the organization has provided aid for.
Stearns said that the most recent rescue cub is doing great. If all goes according to plan, the bear cub will be released back into the wild in October along with any other cubs that are rescued this spring. All in all, she’s just happy that people called and reported that the bear needed help sp quickly.
“Thank goodness they did because he would have perished, I would say within 15 minutes,” she said. She also explained that they’re always in need of donations to help carry out their mission. “This little guy is probably going to cost us $2000 to raise.”