How a Bear Cub is rescued in the Kootenays
By Contributor
There are 3 black bear rehabilitation rescue centres in BC: North Island (covers all of Vancouver Island), Critter Care (covers the Lower Mainland), and Northern Lights Wildlife Shelter (covers the rest of BC, including our area). Northern Lights (NLWS) is the largest and is also the only rehabilitation shelter that is allowed to rehabilitate Grizzly cubs.
Cubs must be under 12 months old to be eligible for rescue, as per Provincial regulations. They become orphans primarily through the actions of humans: hunting, poaching, dens impacted by construction equipment, road and train and other accidents. The other cause is problem sows who must be killed by Conservation Officers (CO). Cubs left behind can be rescued, if they haven’t been taught bad behaviour yet, which leads back into managing attractants. It’s our fault if a CO has to kill a sow because that bear has become accustomed to unmanaged human food and garbage, unmanaged fruit trees, gardens, pet food and bird feeders.
How do we know a cub is orphaned? Depending on their age, they are observed for 2-3 days. Younger cubs, less than 4 months old, are rarely away from their mother for more than a few hours. Cubs 8-12 months old sometimes spend 2 days away from her. In BC, cubs are always born in late January / early February thus the age of the cub is evident by the time of year.
NLWS works closely with the Conservation Officers and BC Wildlife biologists during rescues and releases. Orphaned cubs are reported to the authorities, or directly to NLWS by observant residents, bylaw officers, or COs. Once a Provincial Wildlife Biologist has approved the rescue, local volunteers who have been trained to trap wildlife are contacted. Occasionally the COs are involved in trapping the cubs, especially when tranquilizing is required.
Volunteers contact the local resident who reported the sighting and then set and bait a live trap in a carefully selected location. This live trap does no harm to the animals. And then we wait. Sometimes the cubs are so desperate for food that the time elapsed is short; sometimes the cub is wary, and the wait is long; sometimes the cub sadly disappears or is predated. When the cub enters the trap, it steps on the trigger mat, and the door closes. The volunteer checks the trap frequently, so the cub is never in the trap for long. Sometimes other animals are inadvertently captured – mostly curious house cats or raccoons.
Once a cub is captured, the trap is transported to an enclosed space, such as a garage, and the cub is transferred to a larger metal crate which is dark, like a den, and outfitted with straw bedding and some appealing food items. The crate is loaded into a volunteer’s vehicle and the long trip to NLWS in Smithers begins. A drive-train of volunteers is coordinated, often involving Bandstra Trucking Company in Kamloops, to transport the cub as quickly as possible.
When the cub arrives at the wildlife rehabilitation centre, it is given up to a week to recover from the journey, then sedated to get a health check, a weight, sex and an ear-tag. If all goes well, it is released into a large enclosure with other cubs. Cubs are cared for and fed until they are 16-17 months old (June of the year after they were born), then they are released back into the wild. This program gives them a 2nd chance, without which they would not have survived the loss of their mother. The cubs are exposed to humans as little as possible so they can be released into the wild without an affinity to people.
The best thing for residents to do to reduce orphans and minimize wildlife-human conflicts is to be aware of wildlife on roads, manage attractants such as garbage, fruit trees, pet food, and bird feeders properly and in accordance with all municipal rules. Don’t feed wildlife no matter how cute or hungry they look. Contact the City of Rossland or visit the WildSafeBC website for helpful brochures. Check out the Bear Smart Task Force page on the Rossland Sustainability website. If you see a cub, without a mum for more than a couple of days, contact our City Bylaw officer or NLWS.
For more information on NLWS, visit https://www.wildlifeshelter.com or their FB page. You can see photos of the cubs rescued this spring in our area: Shirley, Temple, Gimlet, Mai Tai, and Pina Colada. Wildlife rehabilitation doesn’t receive any funding from the government, so donations are always appreciated.
Check out Part 2 of this rehab article in early September, when we will tell you more about NLWS, all about the Grizzly rehab program and how the success of rehab is being measured, and answer the most commonly-asked questions.
