It’s been a busy time at ABR. As we’ve posted before, the cubs and yearlings are eating with urgency because of the annual “feeding frenzy” known scientifically as hyperphagia. This fact alone has kept the curators busy. Our recent arrival, the cub nicknamed Piccola Bear, had arrived in mid August with a perforated intestine and had to be confined in the Red Roof Recovery Center, where she could be prevented from climbing. Fortunately, bears heal very quickly, and Piccola was able to move to an Acclimation Pen. Now, she has been released into Wild Enclosure #3! Still too small to deal with the rowdy cubs in Wild Enclosure #4, Piccola has #3 all to herself.
The gate is opened and Piccola sniffs the outdoors.
She takes her first cautious step.
She is out!
Guess what she did first! Of course, she climbed a tree!
A short time later, she climbed down to investigate and find some food.
It’s not hard to imagine how happy she was to finally be able to climb a tree again.
Another bear cub arrived at ABR about the same time. Bear #279, nicknamed Dash Bear, is a 7-month-old female, the same age as Piccola and the other six cubs. She and her sibling were hit by a car in Claiborne County, TN. Sadly, the sibling was killed, but Dash was rescued and taken to UT College of Veterinary Medicine. She had significant injuries including a broken mandible, a broken tooth, tongue lacerations and a laceration near her rectum. Dr. Duvall and her team performed the surgeries and the curator took Dash to ABR for recovery. She has pain and antibiotic medicines and will be on a soft and liquid diet for a couple of weeks. She is in the Red Roof Recovery Center and lucky for her (and for the curators) there are no restrictions on climbing!
Dash Bear being examined by Dr. Duvall at UTCVM.
When Dash Bear recovers, she will probably be able to join Piccola in Wild Enclosure #3. That will be better for both of them than to be alone. Both of these little cubs lost their families.
Our next post will be about the other cubs.