Finnegan Bear is the two-month-old black bear cub currently housed in the Cub Nursery at Appalachian Bear Rescue.  He arrived almost a month ago, weighing just 2.9 pounds.  Now, after feeding on bear milk replacement formula, his weight has increased to almost 7 pounds.  Finnegan is a healthy little cub and becomes more active every day.

Cubs in the wild are usually part of a litter (2-3 cubs are average for a mother bear) and as they grow they play together to strengthen their muscles and increase their agility.  As a solo cub, Finnegan must play with the stuffed toys that the curators provide for him.  At first, he just snuggled down with the toy bears to sleep.  Now that he is getting bigger, he plays with the stuffed animals as he would with litter mates.  Today we have a short video that shows him in action as he pounces on and “attacks” the toy bears.

You will notice that he plays silently.  In the wild it would be dangerous to attract attention by making noise, so cubs instinctively play quietly.  The only sounds we hear in this video are the noises when he bangs against the pen.

Click here to watch the video of Finnegan Bear playing with his toy bears.