Over the weekend, ABR received another cub – #216, nicknamed Aster Bear.  She is the same age as the other cubs, not quite 8 months old. This little cub was hit by a car and found on the road not far from ABR’s facility.  A couple of kindly passers by got out of their cars to move what they thought was a little dead bear off the road, only to find out that Aster was not dead at all!  They called the authorities, and the ABR curator was given permission to take the cub to the UT College of Veterinary Medicine.  As we have reported several times these past several months, the UT Vet School is very cooperative about checking cubs that are injured or are showing signs of other problems.  Aster spent the night at the Vet School, and then was given the OK to be transported to ABR to begin her rehabilitation process.  We have a couple of rather poor photos that were taken through the one-way glass window in the door of The Cub House, where Aster was placed.  We also have a photo taken by her rescuer, of the little bear lying on the side of the road.  We will have more photos of Aster soon, we are sure.

When let out of her carrier into The Cub House, she huffed and blew at the curator, showing her wild spirit was still very much intact. She is getting a special diet of applesauce (with her antibiotics in it) and other bear cub treats.  As soon as she is sufficiently recovered, she will be outside in a Wild Enclosure with other cubs.  She has some growing to do – at just 20 pounds she is about half the weight of the other cubs in our care.

Here are the photos taken through the window of The Cub House’

Cub #216 in The Cub House.

Another photo taken through the window.

And here is the photo taken by the woman who first saw the cub on the road.

Cub 216 lying on the side of the road

We are grateful to the people whose compassion caused them to stop.  We will follow Aster’s progress as she adjusts to life at ABR.