Little Beignet, our 9-month-old Louisiana cub, has had a tough time of it during her short life. From being rescued from a flooding den when she was just over a month old and weighed only 1 pound, to overcoming her fear of the height of the platform in the Acclimation Pen, to having pins put into her broken leg, she has seemed to endure one problem after another. And yet she’s done well with her buddies, the Triplets, in Wild Enclosure #3.

Now she has had another problem. The curators saw her (on the enclosure cam) reach for a branch in a tree and miss, resulting in her sliding down to the ground. They saw her limp away and called for a park ranger to come and immobilize her so she could be taken back to UT. The vets confirmed that she had broken her right back leg (the same one as before) but in a different location.

Vets and curators agreed that it would not be wise to confine her again, given the stress it caused before. Instead it was decided that she should be allowed to relocate to Wild Enclosure #4, which is presently unoccupied. She started to explore the new enclosure as soon as she was introduced into it. Bears in the wild often recover on their own from injuries such as broken bones. It is hoped that Beignet will be able to heal without further intervention.

Everyone is hoping for her speedy and complete recovery. She is definitely a fighter, and we don’t think she will let this defeat her.