As we shared in our last post, the three Christmas cubs are now outside in Wild Enclosure #3. It’s a new experience for them, but they seem to be adjusting to the new environment. Here is how the release played out.

Curators Coy and Bailey transport the carrier with one of the cubs to the Acclimation Pen for Enclosure #3.

Capturing them was an opportunity for the curators to weigh each cub and learn how much they had gained during their time in the Hartley House. The cubs responded to their capture as seen in the “bear swear words” above.

But the curators were very pleased with the growth. Mistletoe, the first cub, had gone from 19.8 pounds on December 6 to 61.4 pounds on January 18!

Mistletoe wasted no time in exiting the carrier and then the Acclimation Pen.

Next out was Peppermint, the solitary female, who weighed 17.82 pounds on December 6 and 42.6 pounds on January 18.

The biggest gain was CranBeary Bear, who weighed only 11 pounds on December 6 and a whopping 40 pounds on January 18!

Curator Coy compared CranBeary to a short-legged corgi dog. Curator Tori created this photo to illustrate his point.

Shortly after entering the enclosure, Mistletoe seems happy with the new digs.

CranBeary is ready for his new chapter.

Peppermint and Mistletoe began to forage.

As they explored, the three cubs spent some time together at the base of this tree before moving on to sleep somewhere else.

Their next-door neighbor, Nettles, came down from her tree to forage. She is looking nice and plump, too!

Nettles has a very good appetite, and it shows!

She is so round we feel it necessary to point out her two ends!

Deja vu? Mistletoe is sitting on “Milo’s stump” in their enclosure. Hope this isn’t a sign of future reluctance to leave ABR!

Here is a list of all of the 2022 bears with their incoming and outgoing weights. It’s clear that they are ready to find dens for the winter and then to resume their lives as wild bears! We wish them all happy, healthy lives free of human interference!