We have been expecting that our three “big” yearlings, who had been cared for at ABR the longest, would be returning home to the wild very soon. April 13th was their lucky day! All three of them were able to return home, and we have photos of them leaping off of the truck, happily going back where they belong, in the wild!
Peppermint, one of the Christmas yearlings, went first. She weighed in at 63.2 pounds.
Her brother, Mistletoe, was the second to leap to freedom. He weighed 77.2 pounds.
And finally, our ” Bird Bear,” Nettles, flew off the truck on her way to a tree (we are sure)! Nettles was the smallest, at 59.7 pounds
All of these weights were on target for yearlings at 14 months of age. When you consider that when Peppermint arrived in December she weighed 17.8 pounds, her brother weighed 19.8, and Nettles, in October, weighed just 18.7 pounds and was the smallest bear in her enclosure, they have worked on their chubbifying and done very well!
In our next post we will provide more information about the releases of these yearling bears. Watch this space.