Our Bears - The Many Cubs of 2009

The first two cubs arrived in March from Louisiana. (These two returned home in late October.) ABR also admitted two other cubs from Tennessee in March. (That was four.)

In April, National Park and Tennessee Wildlife officers brought two tiny cubs, each weighing less than 5 pounds. Unfortunately, the Park cub had a congenital birth defect (Hydrocephalus) and was already permanently blind when admitted. At least ABR was able to make the cub’s last days more comfortable. At the end of April, ABR’s cub population stood at two females and four males, two
from Louisiana and four from Tennessee.

In mid-May, two more cubs arrived, one from Gatlinburg and one from Arkansas. (That made eight.)

On July 22nd, wildlife officers from Arkansas brought 2 more cubs to ABR. Each of these females weighed about 12 pounds. (That’s 11.)

In late August, a black bear sow was killed in a collision with a vehicle just inside the Great Smoky M o u n t a i n s National Park, at the “Townsend Y.” She had 3 cubs, all of which were captured by a wildlife officer with the National Park who spent three days and nights in the area in order to rescue all of the cubs so they could be brought to ABR. Because the cubs (two females, one male) were malnourished, they were housed in a small cage to recover and gain weight before joining the other cubs in the large enclosure. (That’s 14.)

In early October, a hunter killed a mother bear near the Wears Valley entrance to the National Park. Unfortunately, it seems the mother and her cubs were being fed by well-intentioned people but that act of perceived kindness killed the mother because it made her a target for hunters. The mother had five cubs (which is extremely rare). Four were large enough to be relocated to a wildlife refuge.
The fifth cub, however, was injured by a gunshot. After a trip to the University of Tennessee Vet School, the 40 pound cub arrived at ABR where he soon removed some of his stitches, but his injury healed  very well. (This made 15 cubs.) Later in October, ABR admitted two other bears. One, a small yearling (40 pounds) from Unicoi County, had been hit by a car and sustained a head injury. This yearling has recovered and will be released. (That is 16.) Then, the same week, ABR admitted another cub from Louisiana. A car killed this cub’s mother and brother outside of Morgan City, Louisiana but the cub eluded wildlife officers for several days by swimming across the Atchafalaya River. She weighs approximately 25 pounds.” She will spend the winter at ABR and has already denned with the three cubs from the Smokies, who will also spend the winter at the facility.
(That makes 17.)

Wintering with them will be our latest arrivals from Newport and the Smokies’ Spur between Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. The Newport cub requires much rest after sustaining injuries when his mother was killed. The cub from the Spur is a female whose mother was killed by a car late on November 12th and brought to ABR by a Park officer on Friday the 13th – a lucky day for this cub!

We could hardly believe it when TWRA officers arrived in early December with 2 more tiny cubs. They were both severely underweight for this time of year, and therefore will also spend the winter at ABR.

This brings the total for 2009 to 21 cubs - the most we have ever rehabilitated in any one year.

As of mid-December, we still have 12 cubs at the facility, 4 of which will be released back into the National Park in January.

Keep watching for further updates!