Preparations

Posted on   May 3, 2020
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Category  :  Bear Feature Stories & Photos

As you know, the coronavirus has significantly delayed the releases of our four yearling bears. Three of them have to travel to Louisiana, and the fourth to South Carolina. Travel restrictions have made it impossible until now. But with the start of reopening some of the states, it seems that there may be a chance to send them home within the next few weeks. With that goal in mind, the curators have opened the Acclimation Pens in the three enclosures where the yearlings are residing. This is the first step in the passive capture protocol that is used to safely catch them for the wildlife officers to load them onto trucks for their return home.

Jessamine and Beignet entered the Acclimation Pen for Wild Enclosure #4.
They hadn’t been in there for a long time. They had a good time.
They staged a wrestling match in the Acclimation Pen. Then they left.
King B entered his Acclimation Pen for enclosure #1 and sampled the food.
He went back outside to rest on his platform.
Another critter came into Boudreaux’s Acclimation Pen to check out the food.
After a while Boudreaux showed up. He sat among the scattered nuts, and we are sure he ate some of them!
Boudreaux struck a thoughtful pose.
Returning outside, Boudreaux played with the remnants of the swingy ball.
He has become a big, handsome bear! Boudreaux the Mighty!

It will be most interesting to watch in the days to come and see how and when the passive capture works out and when the four yearlings are transported home to be released, at last. Stay tuned.