Thursday, April 12 was a BIG day at ABR.  TWRA officers came to prepare as many bears as possible for their wild releases.  As they evaluated the 22 yearlings still at ABR, they judged that 16 were ready to go back to the wild.  The lucky 16 , with their dates of arrival, were:

Spunky (2/09/12),

Pressley (1/13/12),

Tiny (3/12/12),

Thunder (3/10/12),

Violet (6/01/11),

Challenger (2/05/12),

Franklin (1/26/12),

Valentina (2/13/12),

Mandy (9/01/11),

Sadie (9/09/11),

Friday (1/13/12),

Benji (11/22/11),

Sally (7/07/11),

Rupert (11/23/11),

Trixie (9/30/11), and

Barrett (11/30/11).

It is always a bittersweet time when “our” young bears go back to their wild habitat.  Of course, that is the goal of ABR – to rehabilitate these orphans and get them ready for release – but during the time they spend at ABR we enjoy seeing them grow and thrive, and yes, it’s hard not to think of them as “ours,” even though we know they are wild creatures who don’t belong to anyone except themselves and nature.  It was time for them to leave us and we wish them well in their new, exciting, wild lives.

Our yearling population is down to 6 now, the lowest number since a year ago.  We will keep you posted about these little ones as they continue to grow.