On April 7th ABR received more bears – #288 is a yearling, the same age as Hartley, Sweetie and Daffodil. She was found along a trail in the Big South Fork National Recreation Area. After observing her for 24 hours, with no mother in sight, she was rescued by the National Park Service and TWRA, and transported to ABR. Curator Coy took her to the UTCVM for an exam, and then transported her back to ABR. She weighed 16.94 pounds and was thin and malnourished. Tulip Bear, as she was nicknamed, slept most of the night in one of the pens in the Cub Nursery. She did eat something in the morning.
Next to arrive were 2-month-old triplets – #289, nicknamed Bluebeary is a female who weighed 3.6 pounds. One brother, #290, nicknamed Hucklebeary also weighed 3.6 pounds and the other brother, #291, nicknamed Blackbeary weighed 3 pounds. Each of these little cubs has a white blaze or partial blaze on its chest. White blazes are not common and we don’t see them often. The cubs were healthy and were placed in the Cub Nursery, which had just been vacated by Louisiana cubs Boudreaux and Beignet. (All this happened so suddenly that we hadn’t posted about the move as yet – watch for that story in our next post!)
Here are photos of the triplet cubs being checked at the UTCVM.
It was quite an exciting day! Please join us in welcoming our four new residents!