The ABR cubs received an early Christmas present from Catawba Brewing Company.  The gift was 840 pounds of chopped peanuts!

Here are the boxes of chopped peanuts, courtesy of Catawba Brewing Company.

Since chopped nuts wouldn’t scatter well, the curators put bowls of the treats into the acclimation pens.  It’s time to leave the gates open so the cubs get used to going in and out.

Several bowls of chopped peanuts for the Six-pack.

Chopped peanuts for the Six-pack proved to be a big draw.

They pushed each other as they scrambled for the tasty nuts.

Persimmon Bear didn’t have to share her peanuts.

Imagine – peanuts with no shells!

Piccola and Dash received some of the chopped peanuts, too.

Piccola ate and then looked around. Dash stayed outside.

This was an unexpected gift, and one that the cubs appreciated greatly.  The curators appreciated the opportunity to begin to accustom the bears to going in and out of their Acclimation Pens.