So Much News! - Appalachian Bear Rescue

With apologies for the delay in our reporting (due to family issues) we’ll try to catch you up. We posted about the two Alabama cubs, Big Al and Aubie, and how the wildlife officers were searching for a mother or perhaps two, to whom the cubs could be fostered. But in the meantime, on March 14th we admitted a tiny cub from South Carolina!

Bear #331 is nicknamed Furman Bear, in honor of Furman University in Greenville, SC. There was no information about how he became separated from his mother or why. It’s very unusual for such a small cub, weighing a bit less than 2.5 pounds, to be alone. A biologist with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) took care of the tiny cub overnight and then brought him to ABR in the morning of March 14. His checkup at the UTCVM was good, and he is healthy. He went into a third pen in the Cub Nursery and eagerly took the bear milk replacement formula from a bottle.

Because of his small size it is assumed that he was actually a week or two younger than the Alabama cubs. You will recall that bear cubs can be born during January or February. Although ABR uses the date of January 22 as the official birth date for all of our cubs, there are several weeks during which cubs can be born. The SCDNR got busy trying to find a surrogate mother for Furman Bear. Here is the little mite shortly after his arrival.

In the Cub Nursery. All that we see is a little ear. Furman is burrowed down in the blankets and stuffed toys, with a heartbeat pillow that he likes.

Furman drinks his formula from the bottle that Curator Coy holds.

Coy wipes the cub with a warm, wet wipe that substitutes for the mother bear’s tongue.

Coy finishes up the feeding and cleaning process.

All fed and clean, so now it’s time for a nap.

To show how small he really is, here is a photo from his intake exam at UT.

That’s not all! On March 17th, Furman returned to South Carolina to meet his new mother and siblings! The SCDNR officers located a sow with two cubs of her own and Curators Coy, Quanah, and Matthew took the tiny cub to SC to meet his new family! The introduction went very well, as we can see from this image.

It seems that Furman will fit right into his new family.

We couldn’t have wished for a better outcome to Furman’s story. It would have been fun to watch him grow, but the very best ending for his story is to be settled into a bear family, with a bear mama to teach him along with her own cubs. We wish Furman a happy, long life as a wild bear.

We’ll bring you up to date on the Alabama cubs in our next post – it’s a good story, too!