Bud Bear at Work

Posted on   December 28, 2021
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Category  :  Bear Feature Stories & Photos

The curators let Bud Bear into Wild Enclosure #4, to get him used to being outside again, and so they can watch him climbing and doing various other things that he couldn’t do in the Hartley House. Then they opened the gate to the Acclimation Pen, so he can go in and out as he wishes, and get used to having his food in there. This method, you will recall, is how they prepare a bear for a release that is soon to happen. It won’t be long until our yearling will be returning to the wild.

He enters the Acclimation Pen to start his day at the food wheel, which is well stocked with peanuts.
Later he sniffed at the door.
He investigates. Bud is a strong yearling!
It looks as though Bud wants to take down the wall.
Bud works at it from a different angle.
He stopped working for awhile.
Then he got his paw inside and started to pull! Strong, indeed!
Bud climbs up to the resting platform.
Hmmm, it seems that the wall is up here, too.
Maybe it is more accessible here.
Look! There’s a piece of the tarp on the floor!
Now he has a better view.
Busy Bud Bear – he went in and out all day, eating and checking his “project.”

We often say that a cub or group of cubs starts a “project” – maybe to dig a hole or to defeat the “forbidden” trees. Now we see that a yearling can start his own project. Bear projects are usually designed to thwart the curators in some way. This project of Bud’s is, like so many others, a way to destroy ABR property. We’ll watch and see if he carries it further. Stay tuned. (By the way, we have been visiting family for Christmas, but have returned home and are back on the job.)