Unbelievable as it seems, ABR admitted three more cubs (triplets) on August 6th! They are from Blount County TN, and once again they were orphaned when their mother was euthanized for getting into garbage and other human-provided food. As we have done in the past, we will post the report from the ABR Facebook Page, which says it all:
Late on Tuesday, we received three more cubs of the year. These bears are siblings from here in Blount County, Tennessee. Sadly, their mother was euthanized and the cubs were trapped and brought to Appalachian Bear Rescue.
Over the past few weeks, TWRA received calls about a mother bear and three cubs in a neighborhood with both permanent residents and rentals. The bears were repeatedly getting into broken bear-resistant trash bins, opening and entering unlocked vehicles, and visiting porches and decks when humans were present. This past weekend, both TWRA and ABR received multiple calls from someone vacationing in a home in this neighborhood. The bears repeatedly opened and entered unlocked vehicles, wrecked a grill on a deck, and came much too close to people. We and TWRA advised these people to lock vehicles multiple times, but that didn’t always happen. We know that people are busy, but when you live in or visit bear country, LOCKING VEHICLES and KEEPING CAR WINDOWS COMPLETELY CLOSED is mandatory.
Yesterday, when TWRA officers and biologists were at the AirBnB location, the bear family returned. Officers used many hazing techniques to get the family to move along. Nothing worked. In fact, the mother bear would come within inches of people in search of human food. It was clear that this bear had been hand fed. There was no option other than to euthanize the female bear and safely trap her cubs for transport to ABR.
We know that you don’t like reading that this has happened again. We can’t believe we are writing about this again. It makes us and our wildlife agency partners sick and frustrated. We know you will ask why the family could not be relocated. There is no place in Tennessee remote enough to take a bear that no longer has any fear of people. Some point out that Great Smoky Mountains National Park has hundreds of thousands of acres. That is true. Many of those acres are filled with backcountry campsites and hiking trails that visitors enjoy every day. Remember, our Park is the most visited National Park in the United States. Also, most of those acres are not accessible by vehicle. Even if there was a spot far, far away, you can’t hike to that spot with a large bear and her three cubs. You certainly can’t relocate these bears and this behavior to someone else’s back yard.
For all of us who live in these beautiful mountains, all who visit, all who’s businesses benefit from our natural resources, and all who lead our communities, it’s time to look deep inside ourselves and ask WHY? Are we so selfish that we no longer care? Is our desire to see a bear up close so strong that it makes us willing to kill the very animal that we want to see? Can we not be bothered to secure our trash and to lock our vehicles? Can we not find and implement better community solutions for trash and pass and enforce laws that prohibit the intentional and unintentional feeding of bears and other wildlife?
One way or the other, our choices are shaping the future of our beautiful mountains and natural resources.
Here are the newest ABR residents:
#416 Velma (10.5 kg), #417 Daphne (10 kg), and #418 Scooby (11 kg). 10 kg is equal to 22.0462 pounds.
We think the words for humans in the mountains, or anywhere in bear country are very forceful and important. People simply have to realize that their own behavior must be directed toward the preservation of the wildlife we cherish.