Appalachian Bear Rescue

23 hours ago

May 7, 2024: New Treats

All the cubs at ABR are doing very well. As they grow, we are gradually adding new foods to their diet. Cubs in the wild with their mother bear would nurse through spring and summer. Our cubs have to transition to solid foods sooner so they can graduate to the ABR Wild Enclosures. We can't provide formula or porridge in the enclosures.

We try to keep foods as natural as possible. Sometimes, that means REALLY natural. Daisy Mae, Duke and Jellybean found a really nice rotten log in their outdoor pen. The log is filled with tasty ants and other delectable bugs. After an afternoon trip to Costco today, they also found Romaine Lettuce on the cubby menu. From the looks of the lettuce now, we think the cubs give it a paws up! This time of year, natural foods are scarce in the wild, but bears do find tender greens and lots of tasty bugs. Keeping it natural!

Tots Bear is progressing well. She even has zoomie fits and dashes between her rooms. She will go back to the UTCVM-University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine for a checkup soon. We hope she will be cleared to join the other cubs. Plans can always change, but we think she will join Peeps, Casper and Shadow. Fingers crossed for a good report from the veterinarians.

Peeps, Casper and Shadow have plenty of tasty treats in their indoor rooms this evening, but they aren't wasting good hammock nap time. The food can wait...but not too long. A growing cubby has a rumbly tummy and rumbly tummies must be filled.

Thank you for keeping Daisy Mae, Duke, Jellybean, Peeps, Casper, Shadow and Tots in your heart. You give them a second chance at life in the wild where they belong.

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Appalachian Bear Rescue

2 days ago

ABR Daily Update-May 6, 2024-Keeping Them Happy 😊🐻

Weather: 72F (22C) Humidity 79%, Partly Cloudy 🌤️

Our seven cubs are having a good day, which means they're stuffing their tummies and beating the stuffing out of each other. Except for Tots, who is by herself until she recovers from a broken arm. She's doing well; she walks normally and can easily navigate the gentle slope of her climbing structure with no apparent discomfort.

The cubs are accustomed to their surroundings and the feeding routine. Now, the curators must devise ways to keep these intelligent, curious little bears entertained until they're released into a wild enclosure next month. We're fortunate that, except for Tots, the cubs have each other. Cubs fare better in captivity when in the company of other bears. As it stands, cubs are aware of changes in their environment; they notice when something has been moved, added, or removed. It might not seem like much, but altering a toy or replacing the cubby pool with something different forces the cubs to adapt, and every reaction stimulates their little brain cells.

Once they're in a wild enclosure, nature will provide all sorts of stimuli, and the curators have added a few of their own; past residents loved the "springy dingy" and the swingy balls. Bored bears are unhappy bears, and we want our resident cubs to be happy. 🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻🐻

❤️ Please consider donating to Appalachian Bear Rescue:
appalachianbearrescue.org/make-a-donation/

🎉Our Visitor & Education Center at Trillium Cove is open! Please click on the link for more information:
appalachianbearrescue.org/contact-us/

🛑Bearwise.org offers excellent information on what black bears are up to at this time of year and what to do if you hike or live in “Bear Country”.

*We post one update daily, seven days a week. ... See MoreSee Less

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Appalachian Bear Rescue

3 days ago

ABR Daily Update-May 5, 2024-Feeding Cubs 🐻🥣

Weather: 80F (27C), Humidity 61%, Partly Cloudy 🌤️

Our seven resident cubs are about three-and-a-half months old. If they were with their respective mothers, they’d still be nursing, supplementing their mother's milk with their first small nibbles of solid food. They wouldn’t be weaned until the summer, when their baby teeth are in and berries are ripe. Some mother bears allow their cubs to have milk "top-ups" well into their first year. In fact, it’s up to the mother to decide when she closes "the milk bar," much to the chagrin of her cubbies.

The little bears at ABR are weaned onto solid food much earlier to reduce the chance of them habituating to humans and to make them as independent as possible, as soon as possible. Daisy Mae, Duke, and Jellybean have been offered a little puppy chow along with crushed and whole berries to supplement their main course, delicious Cubby Porridge (now with 20% more mealworms!).

Tots, our smallest cub, is still restricted to eating Cubby Sauce and Porridge. Tots may be our youngest resident, born a week or two after the other six cubs, so we have to be careful not to push her into eating things she’s not ready for. We’re happy she’s finished taking her meds, and we’re looking forward to her next visit to UTCVM-University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine to determine how well her arm is healing. That should be in a week or two.

Casper and Shadow are offered the same menu as the big cubs, and Miss Peeps is keeping up. We will concede that none of the cubs like puppy chow except for Jellybean, and he’ll only eat it when there's nothing else. However, the curators will keep introducing semi-solid food and ground solids, and pretty soon, the cubs will be chowing down on anything that’s offered—unless we have a finicky cub. (Please don’t let us have a finicky cub! 😱)

Once the cubs show the curators they can and will eat soft solid food, they’ll be introduced to hard foods like apples and nuts. This will signal they’re ready to be released into a wild enclosure. We don’t expect that to happen for another few weeks, possibly in mid-June.

❤️Please consider donating to Appalachian Bear Rescue:
appalachianbearrescue.org/make-a-donation/

🎉Our Visitor & Education Center at Trillium Cove is open! Please click on the link for more information:
appalachianbearrescue.org/contact-us/

🛑Bearwise.org offers excellent information on what black bears are up to at this time of year and what to do if you hike or live in “Bear Country”.

*We post one update daily, seven days a week. ... See MoreSee Less

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Appalachian Bear Rescue

4 days ago

ABR Daily Update-May the Fourth Be with You, 2024 💫

Weather: 71F( 22C) Humidity 80%, Rain Showers ☔️🐮🐮🐮

The Crawley-Cowe Sisters, Bovines at Law, have cautioned us—in writing—to cease and desist from referring to our resident bears as “destructive delinquents", "vandals", "hooligans", or "gangsters". They argue that such terms might prejudice people against renting rooms to them in the future. We are instructed to report what we see, not what we feel. 🤔Very well, what we see is that bear cubs are the worst kind of tenants; they wreck everything and never pay their bills. No human should ever rent to them! Please remove bird feeders from your property, secure your trash, and all food items such as pet food, lest a passing bear smell them and interpret the scent as “Room and Board Available. Bears Welcome!”🐻

We present the attached photos, with minimal commentary, to support our case.

❤️Please consider donating to Appalachian Bear Rescue:
appalachianbearrescue.org/make-a-donation/

🎉Our Visitor & Education Center at Trillium Cove is open! Please click on the link for more information:
appalachianbearrescue.org/contact-us/

🛑Bearwise.org offers excellent information on what black bears are up to at this time of year and what to do if you hike or live in “Bear Country”.

*We post one update daily, seven days a week. ... See MoreSee Less

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