This is a heartbreaking year, as we have welcomed so many little bears who were orphaned due to human negligence. Yesterday afternoon, TWRA Biologist Dan notified ABR about a female bear who had been trapped after repeatedly trying to break into a cabin in Gatllinburg and terrifying the occupants who were renting the cabin. The female had to be euthanized due to her aggressive behavior, and it was learned that she had a cub. So once again, ABR was called on and admitted the female cub. She is larger than our recent arrivals, weighing 54.01 pounds at her intake exam, but is basically a healthy little bear. She was released to ABR with the usual deworming medicine, and will spend a few days in the Cub House before being released into Wild Enclosure #4.
Bear #422 is nicknamed Plum Bear.
The people who were renting that cabin were not at fault. They had taken the appropriate measures, not leaving food out, locking their car doors, etc. The fact was that this mother bear had been habituated to the point that she was food conditioned and had become aggressive in trying to obtain human food. It is such a sad situation that seems to be repeated over and over. We wonder – when will people learn?