Releases

Idaho Black Bear Rehabilitation & Release

Run by self-taught rehabilitator Sally Maughan, Idaho Black Bear Rehabilitation & Release (IBBRR) rescues cubs whose mothers have been killed by hunters or in road accidents and equips them with the skills they need to survive in the wild.

In Idaho and the surrounding states in America, there is a bear population of approximately 40,000. Bears often come into contact with the human population, either because they are legally hunted in Idaho or because the bears stray onto campsites and other populated forest areas to eat food left behind by humans. In many cases, bears are killed to reduce this contact and any associated dangers, but also they are often deliberately hunted or killed by colliding with vehicles. This has left many bear cubs orphaned in the area and diminishing numbers of wild bears.

WSPA has been working with IBBRR to provide high standards of orphaned cub care, veterinary treatment and eventual monitored release back into the wild. The centre also works with local communities to provide humane ways of minimising bear/human contact, such as bear-proofing rubbish bins to stop animals from entering human-populated areas looking for food.
 
IBBRR has cared for hundreds of orphaned bear cubs over the last 15 years and has successfully released them all back into the wild after a period of rehabilitation at their centre. This is done in conjunction with and the full support of the US Fish & Game office in Idaho, which has undertaken to rescue orphaned cubs when they come to their attention and work with the IBBRR on their needs. Education & awareness work is also conducted by the IBBRR within the local community and through local and national media.

However, all this good work almost came undone in 1997 when Sally‘s resources were stretched to breaking point. WSPA stepped in with emergency funding to help her continue her work, including a WSPA priority project to help design and construct a purpose-built facility to enable Sally to take in more cubs. The enclosure, completed in the summer of 2000, is a miniature bear sanctuary measuring approximately 100 x 40 ft.

This ‘bear hostel‘ on land behind Sally‘s house features several man-made dens, tree trunks for climbing and a swim tub for the bears to splash about in. Special one-way viewing mirrors have been installed to enable visitors to watch the bears without disturbing them.
 
Sally said the enclosure was a great success with its inhabitants

All the bears love the water and will spend a lot of time in the swim tub playing with each other and trying to catch the drizzle as it comes down from above,” she said. “They chase each other around the enclosure and wrestle constantly.

Funds for the new cub enclosure came from a legacy by the late Pam Walker, a supporter of WSPA‘s work for many years. Through this generous gift, Pam‘s passion for helping bears will live on through the centre for many years to come.
 
Sally as ‘mother bear’

Sally‘s approach to dealing with bears challenges the traditional view that it is difficult to return hand-reared cubs to the wild. In her role as ‘mother bear‘, she gives cubs the best possible preparation for adapting to life back in the wild. The results have been staggering, with over 100 bears released that would otherwise have died or endured a lifetime in captivity.

During the time that the cubs are in Sally‘s care, they go through various stages of development, just like kids. Cubs usually arrive in the Spring, when just a few weeks old.

Over the next few months they are bottle-fed and learn to play and fight with each other. When they are very young they are hyperactive, cuffing Sally around as she tries to feed them, just like they would their natural mother. The cubs are slowly weaned onto solids and enjoy a varied diet, ranging from fruit with cottage cheese or yoghurt to dog food! Within a few months the bears begin to change and calm down.

During Autumn, Sally gradually reduces the contact that she has with the bears and tapers off their supply of food to encourage them to begin hibernation as Winter approaches.

The journey to freedom

By December they are ready to embark on their journey back to the wild and on a typical ‘denning day‘, officials with the State Department of Fish and Game arrive and the cubs are tranquilised. Once the bears have been sedated, they are given a final health check, measured, tagged and radio collared. The radio collars enable biologists to track the bears after their release and know that they have made a successful transition to becoming a wild bear once more. Finally, the bears are taken by truck to prime bear habitat in the Payette National Forest near the town of McCall, a day‘s journey away.

For the final leg of their journey, the cubs are taken up the mountains by a convoy of snowmobiles before receiving their final last minute checks and being physically carried to the den itself. Cubs are usually denned based on relationship, with brothers and sisters kept together and two to three sharing a den. By the time Spring rolls around, the bears awake from hibernation to find themselves back in the wild.