Chubbifying Cubs - Appalachian Bear Rescue

The cubs and yearlings at ABR are working on getting chubby so they can be released back into the wild. At least, that’s the purpose of all the food provided for them. They just love to eat, like all good bears, so they are cooperative. Recently, volunteers and board members have been out picking apples and blueberries to fill the tummies of the bears. Here are photos that show how the bears are doing.

But first, we’ll take a look at the cubs in Wild Enclosure #2, who are curious about the new bear (#317, Boomer) who arrived in Acclimation Pen #2 a few days ago.

The cubs approached the Acclimation Pen to check the new guy out.

Boomer stands up to “greet” them, but they scurried away.

The cubs climbed a tree where they could look down at the Acclimation Pen.

Our newest arrival, #319, Augustus the yearling, is in Acclimation Pen #4. Note the bountiful quantity of apples for him.

In the Hartley House, little Marmalade Bear likes the blueberries that she has to eat.

Clover Bear, who has not fully integrated into her group as yet, gets ready to go down to forage for the yummy fruits.

She is doing well, but it will be better when she joins the others for group activities.

Harlan takes a drink from the Cubby Pool. Soon he’ll be bobbing for the apples that are floating on the other side.

Sparks Bear is a fine example of what chubbifying looks like. He has been with us since May and has gained a good amount of weight.

Yearling Mulberry hasn’t been at ABR that long. He has some chubbifying to do!

To give you a better idea of which bears are where at ABR, here is a chart:

It also helps with I.D., since the chart lists the ear tag colors for each cub and yearling.

It won’t be long now before all of our cubs and yearlings will be out in their Wild Enclosures. We’ll have to update the chart at that time. Stick around.