Our two most recent arrivals, Oscar Bear and Annie Bear, were separated after their first night at ABR.  Curators noticed that Oscar, being larger, seemed to be intimidating his smaller sister to the extent that she was not eating.  So Annie was moved into the brand new pen in the Cub Nursery.  She seemed to be more relaxed, and started eating again.  In fact, she ate all the fruit and yogurt that was left in the pen for her that night, and was seen drinking Pedialyte from a bowl.  Here is a photo of Annie in the Cub Nursery.

Annie Bear in Cub Nursery

Oscar Bear remains in the outdoor pen , and he, too, needed some quiet recovery time.  These two little cubs have been through a lot in the last few days!

Boston takes a nap

After the curators observed that Annie was eating and seemed to have recovered from her brother’s more aggressive actions, they decided to see if Boston Bear would accept Annie and she would accept him.  Boston has been in the double pen where Bennie, Jerry, and Carrie were housed earlier.  Since there is a sliding divider in this pen, the curator closed the divider and placed Annie in the right side, while Boston was in the left side.  Boston is larger than Annie, but not as large as Oscar.  The curators monitored their behavior closely for several hours, and saw Boston making sounds, and reaching his paw through the divider.  Annie approached the divider, and the two cubs touched noses, a typical form of cub greeting.  When there was no sign of aggression or distress, Curator Coy slid the divider open and Boston immediately entered the right side of the pen.  It looks as though Boston Bear has a real live friend at last!

Boston and Annie are pen-mates