As we have said before, ABR has chosen the date of January 22nd for the “official” birth date of the cubs that come to us for care.  Of course, we know that not all cubs are born on this date, but it falls about midway in the range of dates (from January to mid-February) when all bear cubs are born.  So on the twenty-second of each month we wish our cubs a happy birthday.  These photos of the three cubs were taken on their “nine month birthday.”  It is incredible how much little bear cubs grow in less than a year.  If a human baby that weighs about 7 pounds at birth grew that fast, he or she would weigh over 100 pounds by the age of nine months!!  It’s a good thing that our babies don’t grow at the speed of bear cubs!

Here are our three chubby cubbies.

Finnegan Bear at nine months of age.

We like the way he is framed by the fall leaves.

Andy Bear at nine months of age.

Andy is very good at standing on a tree limb.  Here, the other branch supports his backside.  Eliza Bear refused to be photographed on this day, so we’ll use the photo of her taken a couple of days ago.

One more photo of pretty Eliza Bear. She was a day or two shy of nine months.

Our cubs have certainly grown and filled out.  Our mission with them is drawing to a close.