Appalachian Bear Rescue currently has four yearling black bears and one three-month-old black bear cub residing at the facility.  The four yearlings will be released soon; the cub still has a lot of growing and learning to do.

Today we feature the yearlings as they hang out (literally!) in their Wild Enclosures.

Milo Bear is the “problem child,” as we have said before, in that he is ready for release but is not cooperating with the curators in their efforts to capture him so that he can be worked up for his re-entry into the wild habitat where he belongs.  It seems that he likes it just fine where he is.  He does not always make himself easy to see, so we must re-post the photo from a previous post.

We might miss him if it weren’t for the red arrow.

Alonzo and Skipper Bear are in another Wild Enclosure along with Wily.

Alonzo and Skipper on the same tree in their enclosure, but maintaining distance.

A closer look at Alonzo, snoozing.

A closer look at Skipper Bear.

It’s hard to believe that Skipper weighed only 8 pounds when he arrived in February as a fragile little yearling who was not expected to live through the night.  As we can see, he is not only living but is thriving and has gained a significant amount of weight.

Wily Bear was the last yearling to arrive at ABR – it was April and he was very underweight at just 16 pounds.  Although he has been at ABR for a bit less than a month, he is making progress.  Wily has the typical yearling look – long legs and an overall lanky appearance.

Wily Bear is not often seen. Here he is in a tree in the Wild Enclosure.

Our four yearling bears are making great progress toward their release back into the wild.  We hope to report very soon that Milo Bear has been released!  The other three will probably not stay too much longer at ABR.