Our 14-month-old yearling , Summitt Bear arrived at ABR on March 27th.  As we wrote in our last post, the little bear was underweight, dehydrated and so anemic that he had to have a blood transfusion at the UT College of Veterinary Medicine.  He has settled into the Cub Nursery and is spending much of his time sleeping, but is also eating his applesauce with needed meds mixed in.  Today we have a few photos of Summitt Bear in his cub pen in the Cub Nursery.

Summitt Bear in the pen. The arrow points to the divider in the center of the pen.

Here is a view of the two custom made pens in the Cub Nursery.  They are designed with  center dividers, so that the bear can be confined to one side to eat while the curator cleans out the other side.  If the divider is open, the bear has access to the entire pen.

The two pens in the Cub Nursery.

Summitt Bear eats from his dish in one side of the pen.

Summitt lies down, using both sides of the pen.

He is a tired little bear and seems to need rest and sleep as soon as he has eaten.  This is good, since he needs plenty of rest to recover from his ordeal.  It isn’t clear whether he actually hibernated or not.  If he did hibernate, and recently came out of a den, he may be lethargic from his hibernation.  Bears usually take a few days or weeks to fully “wake up” after their winter sleep.

Summitt has a sleepy look, doesn’t he?

For now, he will just eat and sleep, to recover strength and become accustomed to his new surroundings.  He is not paying attention to the curators as they come in when it is time for feeding.  They do not enter the Cub Nursery any more than necessary, but watch him on a nursery cam that displays in the office.  As he gains strength we expect that he will show displeasure when a curator enters the room.  That will be a good sign.