It snowed again here in East Tennessee, and we have some photos of some of the bears in the snow.  Of course, with their nice warm fur coats, bears do not mind cold weather.  In fact, the reason that bears hibernate is not the cold but the lack of food in the wild.  Obviously, that is not a factor in the lives of our ABR yearlings.  They still need to put on weight in order to be ready for release in the spring, and as long as food is available they will eat.

Zellie Bear is captured resting in a tree, having taken a break from eating.  She looks a little sleepy.  All the yearlings do quite a bit of resting, sleeping, and relaxing in between foraging sessions.  The boisterous play we saw during the summer is not observed now.

Zellie Bear relaxes in a tree in her enclosure.

Over in Wild Enclosure #1, several yearlings were out foraging.

Wild Enclosure #1 with bears in snow.

Otis Bear is one of the yearlings in Wild Enclosure #1.

Otis Bear stands on an artificial limb, added to the tree.

Another resident of Wild Enclosure #1 is Beaufort Bear.

Beaufort Bear’s coat is looking fuzzy and warm.

Herbie Bear is eating and uses his paw as a plate.

Herbie Bear doesn’t mind a bit of snow in with his peanuts.

Cornelius Bear has not been in his Wild Enclosure for very long.  He seems to have adjusted nicely.

Cornelius Bear shows he can climb a tree.

Cedar Bear was released into the Wild Enclosure with Cornelius just a couple of days ago.  He is settling in.

Cedar Bear peeks around the tree.

There are still three yearlings who are confined in pens, to allow them to receive special foods so they can overcome their very low weights.  Here are two of them.  The third, Bailey Bear, did not appear for a photo.

Clarence Bear hides in his culvert den.

Skipper Bear, the most fragile of all, is doing a lot of sleeping in the Cub Nursery.

Things are going well at ABR, thanks to our supporters, volunteers and the hard-working curators.