A cub that was placed in the care of the San Diego Humane Society last month is being cared for by staff members dressed as bears.
The rationale behind their role-playing? before attempting to release the black bear back into the wild, to ensure that the young bear does not form an excessive bond with the people rearing it.
According to a statement, the two-month-old black bear cub is the youngest the organization has ever taken in. In the past five years, California has seen four bears this young enter rehabilitation care.
According to the humane society, on April 12, campers in the Los Padres National Forest discovered the cub, weak, underweight, and alone.
Biologists from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife dropped the bear off at the Ramona Wildlife Center of the San Diego Humane Society on April 14 following unsuccessful attempts to reunite the cub with its mother in the wild.
“Our team stepped in to give him the second chance he deserved,” the compassion group posted on Instagram.
According to the humane society, the cub is stable, playful, and thriving after more than 30 days of its stay.
According to the Ramona Wildlife Center’s Wildlife Operations Manager, Autumn Welch, “he was extremely fragile when he arrived.” “It was touch-and-go at first after going for a few days without food. However, he is now active, eating healthily, and gaining weight gradually.
In order to get the cub ready to go back into the wild when it is old and strong enough, the group intends to care for it for up to a year.
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In the event that a cub ends up in state care, the group said the state wildlife agency would attempt to pair it with another cub, describing this as “a critical strategy to keep orphaned cubs wild and reduce the risk of imprinting on humans.”
Using bear suits “to mimic maternal behaviors,” the organization posted on Instagram as another tactic to prevent the young bear from developing an overly strong bond with his human caregivers.
The humane society noted the “extraordinary amount of time, expertise and resources” required to raise a bear from this young age and stated that the bear cub receives four enrichment and feeding sessions per day to help prepare it for life in the wild. It’s uncommon to see cubs this young without their moms, Welch added.
The bear is seen climbing on a makeshift jungle gym in its enclosure while being played with by humane society staff using a stuffed bear toy in a video posted on the organization’s Instagram.
