Life in Enclosures #1, 3, & #4 - Appalachian Bear Rescue

While the cubs in Wild Enclosure #2 seem to have become a “gang” those in Enclosure #1 are pursuing their interests separately. The original threesome – Ferdinand, Tweetsie, and Dumplin’ usually hang out together, but newcomer Chicory tends to keep to herself, at least so far. This may change as they go through the summer; we’ll see.

The first residents of Enclosure #1 sleep near to each other on the platform.

Chicory, the smallest of all the cubs, keeps her distance, although she and Ferdinand did meet and touch noses a couple of days ago.

And in Enclosure #3, we find the most recent arrivals, Sasafrass and Harlan.

One of the cubs sleeps in the underbrush near the Cubby Pool.

So far, these two cubs prefer to eat and sleep alone. That may or may not change.

Our yearling, Sparks Bear, is alone in Enclosure #4. As a yearling, he would be solitary anyway, so he doesn’t need the socialization of other cubs.

Sparks is on the ground! He looks at the peanuts he has found.

Sparks is going to perform a somersault for us.

The cubs at ABR have the freedom to choose whether to be social or not, as well as where to sleep and when, their foraging schedule, and how to have fun. We can’t give them all they would have if they were still in the wild, but we try to make their stay at ABR as pleasant as possible.