Bear Journal 2013

At 2:25am and she and the cub hadn’t been seen on the monitor system since midnight so hoping she had gone in the den and can get some rest to recover from today’s events. We were anxious to see if she went back to her first den or the one we cleaned out yesterday and today found her in the den we just cleaned out. One nice thing happened – the radio collar was only hanging on by a small section (probably courtesy of her cub) so they took it off and left it off. They will put another one on before she is released, but it’s nice to see her without it as it served no purpose in the enclosure.

Please continue to say a prayer for her as we wait to hear if the vets can help her and handle the post op demands if they do operate. We are all hoping they can repair the elbow damage and at least give her back enough use of her paw to be supportive even if she doesn’t have normal use of it.

Sally Maughan

Mom and Cub Arrive at IBBR

On Tuesday 2/5, IBBR received a call from Idaho Fish & Game about an injured 7 year old adult female bear. Normally state wildlife agencies don’t consider adults as candidates for rehab so we never expected to have the opportunity. She had been shot in the front leg and was about 80lbs underweight. They had been tracking her with a radio collar for a bear study so I understood why they wanted to get her help and continue to follow her for the study. It was exciting enough to think we had a chance to help an adult, but then came the miracle.....she also had a cub. Never in this lifetime or another one would I have thought that opportunity would come to pass. I’m not aware of any bear rehabbers who have had an adult and cub.

The cub had been appearing at residences looking for food and was in good shape, weighing 32 pounds. Fish & Game put out a culvert trap to capture the cub and instead caught mom. They took mom to the state wildlife lab where Dr. Mark Drew was able to get a look at her wounded front leg. Aside from being shot, the wrist was locked in place and she hadn’t been using it. During her movements she must have held the leg and paw up against her body. There were no wounds or loss of fur on the paw as there would be if she were dragging it on the ground to use for support. They reset the trap and captured the cub a day or so later. He joined mom (in a separate carrier) at the lab.

We arranged to meet with Fish & Game to transfer mom and cub to our main enclosure around noon on Wed 2/6. The cub was in a separate carrier and mom was still in the culvert trap. Dr. Mark Drew tranquilized her and they brought her back to the enclosure on our “Mash” stretcher.

They covered her eyes, monitored her breathing and took her temperature (102) during the whole procedure to inspect and clean the wound. There wasn’t enough tissue or skin to close the whole wound so Dr. Drew stitched the tissue over the exposed bone. Then the wound could heal and close on it’s own. For the next 10 days or so we will monitor how or if she uses that leg or just holds it up off the ground. Then Dr. Drew will make a decision on what to do about the wrist and if it can be broken to make it useable again.

Cleaning the wound - taking the temperature - listening to the breathing

Preparing to stitch the wound - Inspecting the bone and open area - Starting to stitch over the bone

Not much to work with, but bone is covered and now wound needs to heal

All done - mom lying on hay in front of culvert den - cub sitting on roof of wood den watching us

We left them alone, but watched them with the monitor system and checked on them until mom was up on her feet. We purposely didn’t fill the swim tub because we didn’t want her trying to drink until she was completely back to normal. At least for the first few days we felt it was important to keep everything she needed in a confined area so she didn’t have to move long distances. We placed a small water tub near the den and the food. When she woke up, everything she needed, including her cub were nearby.

Everyone is just so excited and anticipating all the behavior and information we have the a chance to observe between mom and cub while they are here. We aren’t aware of any bear rehabbers who have had the opportunity to care for an adult or an adult with cub so the opportunity for learning behavior and interaction between the two is beyond measure and the value of what we learn can not only enhance our rehab methods, but provide insight into the cub’s behavior as well as the mother’s behavior. Sally is keeping detailed notes almost minute by minute of their activities and already we have witnessed some new behavior.

The cub had been pretty independent of mom as she was injured and spending most of her time in the den. He wandered around looking for food and then returned to her after that. We expected he would be all over the enclosure, but that hasn’t proven to be the case. After we left the enclosure he first went to mom and then over to eat dog food which was just a few feet away. At 202pm mom started raising her head and by 239pm she was sitting up. The cub then did something amazing to us. We have witnessed cubs pick up a mouthful of dog food and walk over to another cub & drop it down on the ground to share with them. Mom might have done that with her cub, but never did we imagine the cub would do it with mom. When he saw she was sitting up, he took a mouthful and dropped it right in front of her.

By 2:46pm she was standing on three feet, holding her injured leg off the ground close to her body. She leaned down & began eating the dog food her cub brought to her. Between 306pm and 401pm she very slowly worked her way around the back part of the enclosure from North to South. She never made any effort to explore the enclosure from the dens forward. She remained in back. Then she slowly came back to where the cub was eating dog food & joined him. She also ate fruit we scattered on the grass. Whenever we have an injured or severely underweight bear, we provide our bear formula regardless of age. It has proven itself time and again and we have never lost a bear from starvation. Mom was obviously a candidate for that. Every bear we used it with from cubs already weaned, to yearlings, to two year old Jaws who couldn’t eat and the two year old starved Nevada female always went for the formula first. It was as if they sensed it was the most important food they could have at that time. However, this was a 7yr old bear and none of us knew if she would react the same way towards the formula. The cub had taken a lick or two, but didn’t show any interest in drinking it. After eating some fruit & dog food she wandered over to the flat bin with the formula and lapped up the whole gallon.

Then she wandered to the far back corner behind the log piles and remained there with cub in tow until 5:47pm. The cub then came out to eat and mom went into the second culvert den (next to the one we thought she would use). For the next hour they were in the den, out to eat, back in the den. We lost visual with the monitor system until 1105pm & both mom and cub were in the culvert den she chose. Between 11:05pm and 7:45am they would appear then disappear into the dark area.

2/7/13

Although the cub came out a few times during the day, mom stayed in the den until dusk. She came out once to eat, but between 10:31am and 6:20pm, the cub came out 4 times to eat. Each time he returned to mom who was lying in the culvert den she picked for them. Finally at 6:29pm mom came out with cub in tow. She ate some fruit, drank half the formula and by 6:38pm was back by the den. From 6:38pm to 7:20am both were out off and on. Mom didn’t stay long at the food except the formula, but her cub is going to be a butterball if he keeps it up.

2/8/13

No sign of either on at 7:20am, but at 10:45am the cub was heading towards water and suddenly stopped. His ears pointed and he was focused on something out in the pasture. Either he saw or heard something. Mom had been standing in front of the den about 15-20 feet from him and she bolted towards him. Up to then it took her 2-3 minutes just to move a few feet because she hobbled so slowly on her one good front foot. Sometimes she would even stop and lie down to rest for a couple of minutes. We don’t know if she spotted or heard whatever got the cub’s attention or if the cub made some noise, but she was right behind him in about 3 seconds. There was no slow hobbling at that moment and it’s the first real protective instinct towards him that we had observed since their arrival.

With her injury making it so difficult to travel, our guess is she had no choice but to let the cub go find food and hope he would be okay. In this situation, she had a couple of days of good food, rest, and she seemed to have no trouble getting to the cub quickly. We don’t know what they saw or heard, but after just a minute the cub turned back to the dog food & mom returned to the den.

From the first day we have kept a definite schedule and routine - same time - same routine - scatter food - add dog food if needed - check water, pick up scat. Even where we go each day to pick up scat is the same so at any given time mom knows what to expect and where we are. She is very calm, stays in the den with the cub and watches us. She has never threatened or vocalized a warning. Of course each day that she feels stronger and her leg hurts less could change that. We remain alert and cautious at all times. Wild animals do seem to grasp that we are trying to help them, but their wild instinct is powerful. With some animals, they just can’t get past that instinct enough to let us help. Usually, if they do manage to set aside their fear, at some point when they feel they don’t need help (whether we agree or not), the little bit of trust they gave us is gone. So with mom and cub we are always aware that could change at any time. Her personality does seem very mellow and that certainly helps us get the job done.

Between that episode and 5:47pm the cub was out eating several times. At 7:10pm mom and cub both came out to eat. She finished off the formula and by 7:55p she disappeared out of site. The camera provides some light, but it’s a bit like the ring around the moon - we can see some of the center, but outside that area it’s just dark. She was out again at 8:03pm, 3:06am, 4:03am, and 4:31am. We have figured out that cub has his own routine. If mom is in sight, he will come out to eat whenever he wants. Then he comes out with mom and eats again - pretty soon he is just going to explode!

2/9/13

One thing we noticed early on was that the cub focused mostly on the dog food. He ate grapes, but left the rest of the fruit and formula alone. On the second day, we watched as mom would eat and whatever she ate he would now eat where before he passed it by. We have always believed from scat we found after releasing cubs, that they knew what to eat and mom didn’t have to teach them - maybe show them where best to find the food. While we still believe that is true, it is obvious that the cub will try whatever he sees mom eating to see if he likes it.

At 9:57am both were in the den. Mom got a scare shortly after as a dog got out in the pasture. She was scared and running back and forth. We got the dog out and left her to settle down before going in to feed and clean. There was some concern that if she now felt this was not a safe place she would work hard to escape. However, once back in the den, she and the cub seemed calm again. We also expected she might threaten us or at the very least be nervous, maybe clapping her lips or woofing. Instead, she just watched calmly as she had each day before.

Cub came out several times to eat. Mom finally showed up at 6:19pm. The cub has now decided he likes the culvert den we first chose for mom. It had hay in it while the den mom had been using just has dirt. So when he wants to go back to a den, he will choose that one & let mom have the other one - as long as he can see her and know where she is, he will pick the first culvert den. It has warmed up (from 2 degrees to 36 degrees so it might be too warm for both of them in the one den. From 6:19pm until 5:40am she was moving around, resting to take weight off her good leg, eating, and just looking around. The cub would eat, go back to his favored den during that time. If mom got up and walked out of sight or moved a little farther away from him than 4-5 feet, he was out of the den and followed her.

2/10/13

From 7:10am to 3:34pm mom came out twice. The cub was with her both times, but he came out twice besides that by himself while she remained in the den. We lost visual until 9:14pm. When we got it back all the formula was gone along with some of the fruit. Mom and cub were both out of the den. The cub was inside the dog food feeder and mom was eating out the front tray. By 9:50pm the cub came out and returned to “his” favored den. Mom had wandered back between the two dens so the cub left his den and joined her. Mom came out later & it appeared at one point she was licking the wound, but the camera angle was poor so not sure - we haven’t seen her do that before. Until 1:00am the cub moved around from food to his den while mom eventually disappeared out of view of the camera into the shadows. At 1:16am mom showed up again and both remained eating dog food. We hadn’t seen either cub or mom eating apples and what we put out still seemed to be there each day. Fish & venison remained uneaten as well. After a couple of minutes at the dog food, mom turned her attention to an apple. Normally a bear would hold the apple between both paws and munch away. She couldn’t do that, but now seemed determined to get a bite of that apple. For the next 12 minutes she worked that apple around until she held it with one paw against her body and finally got a bite. The cub witnessed this and for the first time decided to try an apple. He reached out to grab it and the apple went rolling away. Hmmmm - that wasn’t what was supposed to happen so he went to another apple and left the rogue apple alone. It happened again - he obviously didn’t know quite what to make of it. Cubs in rehab never have trouble with apples, but maybe he hadn’t eaten apples before. After the third try he nailed it and ate his first apple. Since then the apples have been disappearing. Between 2:18am and 4:40am, both mom and cub were out eating a couple of times. The cub tended to return to his den rather than join mom as long as she was in sight and didn’t move more than a few feet away.

Since Wed, each day has been a learning experience for us, both in her behavior alone, her behavior with the cub, and the cub’s behavior alone and with her, and especially her behavior towards us as we feed & clean. We all hear about injured wildlife and how dangerous they can be and we all hear about mother bears protecting their cubs. Now we have both. Each bear has his or her own personality so toss that into the situation and the mind races with the possibilities. So far she is being very calm, very settled, very tolerant. However, she is an adult so her reasoning ability and her instincts are fine tuned. It comes down to which rules. I believe wildlife know when we are trying to help, but even so, sometimes the instinct just can’t let them trust even a little. So we shall see as the days go by. I’ll tell you what we are seeing so far as far as behavior and some of the fun things we have observed.

Update 2/24/13

She is eating all the foods that we normally provide starved bears, especially the formula. She goes for that (as most starved bears do) first & then moves on to the other food. The cub is quite funny – first his adorable sweetness of taking food to mom when she came out of the tranquilizer. Quite impressive and a bit unbelievable. When he is done eating, he can’t just turn around and go – he backs up several feet as if someone is in front of him pushing him. He eats on his own when it comes to the dog food, but with some of the other foods he waits for mom to eat & then he joins in. If we give them grapes, he eats those before mom has any chance to get some. We have figured out there is a method to his madness – eat dog food whenever I want, then eat everything again with mom. At that rate he is going to be a pudgy little ball and it’s mom that needs the weight.

Every day since mom and cub arrived has been interesting – sometimes the same as the day before (even so, something to be learned from that) and other days new experiences. We all hear how dangerous an injured wild animal can be and of course how protective bears are of their cubs. Mom is challenged in both ways and her cub is at that stage where he has a mind of his own and his first priority isn’t listening to mom. She has been so patient with us, but is losing her patience with him. While she drew that line in the sand with us & said don’t cross it and will let us know if we are taking too long picking up scat, she now has to deal with a sometimes unruly youngster who won’t listen to her & frequently crosses the line she gives him.

The cub always stays within sight of her & always follows her when she heads away from him, but he definitely has a mind of his own. In the beginning we fed first and picked up scat last thinking at least if she got nervous, we could leave & the food would be there which is what she needed most. The scat could wait until the next day. That has been working until this past week.

We started putting in formula from day one as our bear formula is a miracle worker when it comes to starved or underweight bears, cubs, yearlings, or older bears. As with all the bears, she knew instinctively and polished off a gallon of formula first and kept coming back hoping for more. So we increased it to two gallons a day. The cub didn’t show any interest in it during the first few days which surprised me. He had a good weight, but he is like an eating machine and all bears like the formula. He tried a lap or two, but then didn’t show any interest – until he saw how mom relished it. Suddenly we had to worry he was going to drink it all and she needed it - he didn’t. He comes out during the day about every two hours and drinks a little, eats dog food and fruit, but by dark when she comes out most of the formula is still there. He will join her while she is drinking it, but thankfully he doesn’t drink much of it.

During the time she was injured and not moving around much, he was left to find food on his own without her. She really had no choice except to let him go as he needed to. I think that contributed to his daily escapades out to eat every couple of hours. We are hoping as he realizes the food is there & he doesn’t have to go searching and leave mom, that he will settle into a routine that doesn’t include such frequent outings or we may have to buy him a treadmill.

This past week as mom patiently waited in the den for us to feed and clean, he decided his priority was to come out and eat whether we were done or not. While that wouldn’t bother us as we are used to working around cubs (now he is a yearling), it began to create a problem for mom. In the beginning, mom didn’t try to control him as she had her own concerns with being wounded and weak. As she got food in her and the wound was healing, she began to take charge of the cub. While still very good about our presence, her cub began to test her big time. She made it clear he was to stay in the den until we left. Day by day he made it clear he didn’t want to do that and challenged her authority each time. Her reaction was understandable – now she had to worry about him and keep an eye on us. Frustrated more with her cub than us, she lost patience and in her way of vocalizing and those “expressive” eyes made it clear something had to change.

So change we did – instead of feeding first we picked up scat. There was no need for the cub to be pushing to get out of the den because there was no food until just before we left. The first day he didn’t realize that, but by the next day he did and wasn’t so unruly. Mom didn’t have to vocalize at him or us and was very quiet. But, you know kids........ Today he simply decided food or no food he wanted out of the den. Mom actually pinned him to the side of the den and with her body blocked the entrance. We could hear some vocalizing between them and a bit of whining on his part. Mom thought she had him under control so we continued the scat pick up. Then as kids will do, he snuck out the back door. Well that was the last of her patience. The vocalizations started big time....at him, not so much us and she was one unhappy bear. If she had two good paws, I think he would have gotten a good swat.

Seeing how upset she was at him and how unhappy she was about all of it, we stopped picking up scat, but made a small noise that sent the cub running back to the den. While it accomplished what was intended, startling the cub could have turned her attention to us in not so good a way. As it was, she didn’t seem to care how he got back to the den, just that he did. Mom calmed down then, but we decided to make it easier on her and just got the food down and left. Everything we try to do is to make her feel we are there to help her and help her care for the cub, not hurt her or the cub. It can be a daily challenge to interpret the situation – and a very interesting challenge.

We have contacted the vet to see when he might check her wound and make a decision on her wrist that is locked. She still doesn’t use it so the question becomes, can it be fixed or will she be a three-legged bear? Say prayers for her as we all hope it can be fixed. She can do fine with 3 legs and we know from watching her that she can move fast, but it’s wearing and tiring as any of us having used crutches can testify to.

We will get pictures as we can, but please understand it’s important not to be around her and to allow her and the cub to feel secure and free of disturbance so she can heal and be released as soon as possible. We will do snapshots from the monitor cameras, but as you all know, the system is failing – sometimes it works & sometimes it doesn’t and the quality is so poor. Odd that we are pushing so hard to replace the monitor system this year and this one scenario of mother and cub is when we need it most.

We have escalated our Cub Cam Project 2013 to replace the monitor system. It has served it’s time and has been failing for the past year or so. Pictures are such poor quality and video seems to be disappearing each day. See Fundraising Projects on our website for more information.

We haven’t named either one, but will. I’m not a fan of using numbers. Number 200 something means nothing to me, but Kapalua does so we’ll pick a couple of names in the next week or so. The close-up pictures of mother & cub in the den were taken with our camera, but we were 15-20 feet away. The others are snapshots taken with the monitor system during their time out of the den, mostly at night. See our Facebook for more frequent updates & monitor pictures of mom and her cub.