Appalachian Bear Rescue (ABR) is a black bear rescue facility located just outside of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Townsend, Tennessee. ABR is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization that has been returning black bears back to the wild since 1996. Each year black bears from our national parks and surrounding areas are orphaned, injured, or in need of medical care. Thanks to Appalachian Bear Rescue, these bears are given a second chance at life in the wild.
We are approaching peak season for berry crops in the Smoky Mountains. Blackberries, blueberries, raspberries and mulberries are a few of the “soft mast” species consumed by wild black bears. Black bears are very efficient berry pickers. Their prehensile lips, long tongues and dexterous paws help them consume upwards of 30,000 berries a day!
Each berry is swallowed whole before the stomach separates the pulp of the berry from the seed. Bears receive nutrients and calories from the berry pulp, and forests receive the seeds of future berry plants from the bear scat that is dispersed soon after. All this berry and bear talk reminds us of the 1995 children’s book, “Jamberry” by Bruce Degen. Anyone?
Appalachian Bear Rescue was founded in 1996 to give orphaned or injured black bear cubs and yearlings a second chance at life in the wild. Our curators, board members, and volunteers have been working tirelessly to renovate and rehabilitate our facility, and we’re confident we’ll soon be back doing what we do best; offering needy bears a helping hand.
Thank you for your support, your patience, and your understanding.❤️
Male black bears don’t help raise their cubs; their evolutionary strategy doesn’t include parental care. After mating with one female, the male will search for others with whom to procreate. Males often pose a threat to cubs, sometimes killing them to bring the female back into mating condition more quickly. This behavior increases the male’s chances of passing on his genes, as he can mate again sooner.
After entering estrus in May/June, mother bears must disperse their yearlings—sometimes violently—to protect them from male bears attracted to her scent. Additionally, male bears don’t recognize their own offspring; they regard other bears as competition. The entire responsibility for raising, feeding, and protecting the cubs falls to the mother.
Male black bears aren’t going to win “Father of the Year” awards—but our male human supporters would! They care about the future of little bears and have supported ABR in every way possible since the day it was founded.
Thank you, human dads. Happy Father’s Day!❤️
*Featured is BB King soaking in a tub. He was a Visitor Bear From 2012.
🎉Our Visitor & Education Center at Trillium Cove is open! Please click here for more information:
ABR Daily Update-June 14, 2025-A Family Outing 🐻🐻🐻
If you’d like to spend sixteen minutes with a bear family, this video is for you! Nothing much happens—it’s just a little slice of bear life, captured by a friend of ABR. At the 16:44 mark, you can hear the mother bear making soft wooting sounds as she summons her cub from a tree. Her other cub has taken off on an adventure if its own, but mother collects it at the end, just off camera. We wish this family all the best, and thank you for helping us be ready to help them if they ever need it.❤️
Facebook has recently changed its page storage policy. As a part of this, Facebook Live videos will no longer live indefinitely on our profile! After June 20th, Live videos will auto-delete themselves after 30 days. Curator Tori has been working to download, save and catalogue these important virtual records. As we enter into the weekend, we hope you enjoy this throwback Facebook Live video clip from 2011 - cubs Bobby and Ham wrestling in the leaves. A lot has changed at ABR over the years, but the chaos of bear cubs remains the same! 😝 ... See MoreSee Less
June 12, 2025: Today's work included taking inventory of our visitor center's gift shop. While we rotate merchandise throughout the year, teddy bears are an item we almost always have in stock! Did you know that the original "Teddy Bear" toy was given its name after Theodore Roosevelt? 🧸 Theodore (or "Teddy") Roosevelt was a strong proponent of conservation and protecting the wildlife that inhabits our wild places. You can shop for your very own Teddy Bear either in-person at our Townsend visitor center, or in our online store: appalachian-bear-rescue.myshopify.com/... See MoreSee Less
While black bears are a common sight in the Smokies, that isn't the case everywhere. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources just confirmed the first black bear sighting in Licking County, Ohio in more than 20 years!
Black bears are considered an endangered species in Ohio, with a population estimate of just 50-100 individuals. And this isn't the only rare sighting of a black bear that's happened recently. Just days ago there was a confirmed black bear seen passing through northern Texas. We share in the excitement of these recent sightings, as we understand all too well just how special it is to see a wild bear. ❤
A black bear was caught on camera roaming a field east of Pataskala, marking the first confirmed sighting in Licking County this year, according to ODNR.
A tool is only as useful as your ability to locate said tool. 😅
Today our curators organized the garage at our bear care facility. Shovels, chainsaws, weed eaters, gas cans, leaf blowers, rakes and post hole diggers all found their new "places". Not being able to find what you need, when you need it is frustrating in almost every circumstance and ABR is no exception. Thank you to our dedicated team for always making time to tackle the "less fun" projects. ... See MoreSee Less
We hope you enjoy this video illustrating the evolution of the ABR office building over the past twenty-nine years. Thanks to your support, we’ve been able to overcome many challenges and continually improve our facility to help little bears in need. Your compassion and friendship have made all of this possible. We wouldn’t be here without you—thank you!❤️🐻
DONATE TODAY!!
June 17, 2025: One berry, two berry 🫐🍓🍇
We are approaching peak season for berry crops in the Smoky Mountains. Blackberries, blueberries, raspberries and mulberries are a few of the “soft mast” species consumed by wild black bears. Black bears are very efficient berry pickers. Their prehensile lips, long tongues and dexterous paws help them consume upwards of 30,000 berries a day!
Each berry is swallowed whole before the stomach separates the pulp of the berry from the seed. Bears receive nutrients and calories from the berry pulp, and forests receive the seeds of future berry plants from the bear scat that is dispersed soon after. All this berry and bear talk reminds us of the 1995 children’s book, “Jamberry” by Bruce Degen. Anyone?
You can listen to the book read aloud HERE: youtu.be/G8ay9XbI7DQ ... See MoreSee Less
5 CommentsComment on Facebook
ABR Daily Update-June 16, 2025-A Helping Hand 🐻
Appalachian Bear Rescue was founded in 1996 to give orphaned or injured black bear cubs and yearlings a second chance at life in the wild. Our curators, board members, and volunteers have been working tirelessly to renovate and rehabilitate our facility, and we’re confident we’ll soon be back doing what we do best; offering needy bears a helping hand.
Thank you for your support, your patience, and your understanding.❤️
🎉Our Visitor & Education Center at Trillium Cove is open! Please click here 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
43 CommentsComment on Facebook
ABR Daily Update-June 15, 2025-Father's Day 🐻
Male black bears don’t help raise their cubs; their evolutionary strategy doesn’t include parental care. After mating with one female, the male will search for others with whom to procreate. Males often pose a threat to cubs, sometimes killing them to bring the female back into mating condition more quickly. This behavior increases the male’s chances of passing on his genes, as he can mate again sooner.
After entering estrus in May/June, mother bears must disperse their yearlings—sometimes violently—to protect them from male bears attracted to her scent. Additionally, male bears don’t recognize their own offspring; they regard other bears as competition. The entire responsibility for raising, feeding, and protecting the cubs falls to the mother.
Male black bears aren’t going to win “Father of the Year” awards—but our male human supporters would! They care about the future of little bears and have supported ABR in every way possible since the day it was founded.
Thank you, human dads. Happy Father’s Day!❤️
*Featured is BB King soaking in a tub. He was a Visitor Bear From 2012.
🎉Our Visitor & Education Center at Trillium Cove is open! Please click here 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
12 CommentsComment on Facebook
ABR Daily Update-June 14, 2025-A Family Outing 🐻🐻🐻
If you’d like to spend sixteen minutes with a bear family, this video is for you! Nothing much happens—it’s just a little slice of bear life, captured by a friend of ABR. At the 16:44 mark, you can hear the mother bear making soft wooting sounds as she summons her cub from a tree. Her other cub has taken off on an adventure if its own, but mother collects it at the end, just off camera. We wish this family all the best, and thank you for helping us be ready to help them if they ever need it.❤️
🎉Our Visitor & Education Center at Trillium Cove is open! Please click here 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
21 CommentsComment on Facebook
June 13, 2025: Facebook Live Clean-Up 🎥🧹
Facebook has recently changed its page storage policy. As a part of this, Facebook Live videos will no longer live indefinitely on our profile! After June 20th, Live videos will auto-delete themselves after 30 days. Curator Tori has been working to download, save and catalogue these important virtual records. As we enter into the weekend, we hope you enjoy this throwback Facebook Live video clip from 2011 - cubs Bobby and Ham wrestling in the leaves. A lot has changed at ABR over the years, but the chaos of bear cubs remains the same! 😝 ... See MoreSee Less
24 CommentsComment on Facebook
June 12, 2025: Today's work included taking inventory of our visitor center's gift shop. While we rotate merchandise throughout the year, teddy bears are an item we almost always have in stock! Did you know that the original "Teddy Bear" toy was given its name after Theodore Roosevelt? 🧸 Theodore (or "Teddy") Roosevelt was a strong proponent of conservation and protecting the wildlife that inhabits our wild places. You can shop for your very own Teddy Bear either in-person at our Townsend visitor center, or in our online store: appalachian-bear-rescue.myshopify.com/ ... See MoreSee Less
30 CommentsComment on Facebook
June 11, 2025: Black Bear Sightings 🐻
While black bears are a common sight in the Smokies, that isn't the case everywhere. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources just confirmed the first black bear sighting in Licking County, Ohio in more than 20 years!
Black bears are considered an endangered species in Ohio, with a population estimate of just 50-100 individuals. And this isn't the only rare sighting of a black bear that's happened recently. Just days ago there was a confirmed black bear seen passing through northern Texas. We share in the excitement of these recent sightings, as we understand all too well just how special it is to see a wild bear. ❤
www.10tv.com/article/news/local/black-bear-licking-county-pataskala/530-bc76290d-cd09-46ab-b4be-0... ... See MoreSee Less
ODNR confirms first sighting of black bear in Licking County in more than 20 years
www.10tv.com
A black bear was caught on camera roaming a field east of Pataskala, marking the first confirmed sighting in Licking County this year, according to ODNR.14 CommentsComment on Facebook
June 10, 2025: Garage Clean-Up 🧹
A tool is only as useful as your ability to locate said tool. 😅
Today our curators organized the garage at our bear care facility. Shovels, chainsaws, weed eaters, gas cans, leaf blowers, rakes and post hole diggers all found their new "places". Not being able to find what you need, when you need it is frustrating in almost every circumstance and ABR is no exception. Thank you to our dedicated team for always making time to tackle the "less fun" projects. ... See MoreSee Less
19 CommentsComment on Facebook
ABR Daily Update-June 9, 2025-The Office 🐻
Weather:84F (29C) Humidity 65%, Cloudy ☁️
We hope you enjoy this video illustrating the evolution of the ABR office building over the past twenty-nine years. Thanks to your support, we’ve been able to overcome many challenges and continually improve our facility to help little bears in need. Your compassion and friendship have made all of this possible. We wouldn’t be here without you—thank you!❤️🐻
🎉Our Visitor & Education Center at Trillium Cove is open! Please click here 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
27 CommentsComment on Facebook