On August 19, Dr. Cushing and his team of vets from the University of Tennessee paid another house call to ABR, to check on the progress of injured yearling Heather Bear. She has been recuperating for two weeks from the animal attack(s) that left her with over 30 wounds.

She was moved to the ABR Release Staging area for her exam.

Here is a good view of her most serious injuries, the armpit and hip. Although they look pretty bad, there actually has been much improvement.

The team worked fast. There is always concern when a young bear is sedated, so they wanted to finish as quickly as possible.

Curator Bailey worked with the vet team. She took measurements and recorded observations for the ABR records.

Heather weighs 62.8 pounds! She has gained ten pounds during her two weeks at ABR. We have mentioned that she has a good appetite – this certainly proves it!

Curator and vets agree – she has made great progress!

Back to the Recovery Center for Heather.

She rests on her bed to recover from the ordeal. Since she has made such good progress, the curators hope to release her to Wild Enclosure #2 in the coming week. Watch this space!