Sycamore and Clover - Appalachian Bear Rescue

As you know, if you’ve been following us, Sycamore is a sick little yearling bear in the Red Roof Recovery Center at ABR. He has been to the UT College of Veterinary Medicine a couple of times for additional treatment, and returned to the ABR recovery center just last week.

The floor was swept clean of the cedar chips, due to the breathing problems that Sycamore was experiencing. On the first night back, he slept well.

In the morning, he went straight to his honey log in the next room.

Very encouraging, but a couple of nights later the curators noticed that he wasn’t eating (again) and was acting lethargic (again). They conferred with the UT vets, and learned that the blood tests had shown no bloodborne parasites, so he was taken off of that medication. However, we are still very concerned about this little guy. Time will tell. . .

Our other sick little bear, the cub named Clover, has made progress and is doing well. In fact, the curators expect to release her into a Wild Enclosure later this week. Meanwhile, she likes to play with her stuffed bear, as these photos show.

Clover gets ready to move her stuffed bear, “Not Clover.”

She positions “Not Clover” where she wants the toy bear to be.

Clover lies down beside “Not Clover” and uses the toy bear as a footstool.

Clover demonstrates a trick to the stuffed bear – it’s a “Do what I do” pose.

Clover stretches out, while “Not Clover” sits in the food dish.

Finally, Clover fell asleep next to her bed and near another stuffed bear.

Bear cubs can behave very much like human toddlers. We are glad that Clover is doing well, and we have our fingers crossed for Sycamore.