A very unusual day! ABR admitted FOUR cubs yesterday! Three are triplets, whose mother was leading them through a yard. But the mother bear was obviously injured and was dragging her back legs. The homeowners who saw the family contacted ABR and TWRA, who set a trap for the mother bear. About 24 hours later, the mother bear entered the trap. Next, TWRA Sergeant David Carpenter set traps for the cubs, knowing this would be very difficult to do. But luck was with them, and the cubs entered the traps and were ready to come to ABR. Sadly, the mother bear had suffered extensive injuries from being hit by a car, and had to be humanely euthanized. Curator Jamie met Sergeant Carpenter to receive the cubs and take them to UTCVM for their intake exams.
Meanwhile another cub story had been unfolding in Sevierville. A week ago a cub was spotted high in a cherry tree, eating the cherries. By midweek, when there had been no sign of an adult bear, Curators Haley, Jamie, and Greg set a trap and installed a trail camera that had cell service to send photos of activity.They watched hopefully for the cub to enter the trap, but it took a week for that to happen. In fact, it was while Curator Jamie was returning to ABR with the triplets, and she turned around and took the fourth cub back to UT!
The four cubs are healthy, but are small.
The triplets are #404 (Homer Bear) – male, 11 pounds.
#405 (Diamond Bear) – female, 7.7 pounds.
#406 (Champ Bear) – female, 12.1 pounds.
They are sharing Rooms 1 and 2 in Hartley House.
The cherry tree cub is #407 – (Sundae Bear) – female, 12.1 pounds.
She is in the ABR Recovery Center.
The origin of the triplets’ names is the fact that the Tennessee Vols Baseball Team won the College World Series! Go Vols!