Sally's News
8/28/11
New Cub from Utah - August 16, 2011
The call from Utah came as a blessing for the two bears in rehab at IBBR.
Kapalua is a cub of the year from Oregon and Wailana is a yearling (bear
born in 2010). Wailana is much bigger, weighs more, and has a yearling
attitude. He was orphaned in 2010, but Fish and Wildlife couldn't trap him.
Somehow he survived through winter, but was thin, in poor health and just
needed some help to get back on his feet. As Kapalua grew bigger we were
able to merge these two bears together. They both needed the company of
another bear, but there were some concerns this time.
After they were merged together, it was happy days for both with lots of chasing and wrestling. However, unknown to both was that Wailana was now healthy enough to be released and was showing signs with his behavior that he didn't like being confined. The question became did we hold him longer to keep Kapalua company since no bear should be raised alone if it can be avoided. Or, did we release him and put Kapalua at risk if no other cubs came in? I struggled with the decision daily. Since it was unknown if or when any more cubs might come in, a decision had to be made soon for Wailana's sake.
That decision became obvious as Wailana started to pace. He was healthy, gained the weight he needed and there was just no reason to hold him any longer. Then the call came from Utah and with that call, we were able to start the release process for Wailana and know that Kapalua and the Utah cub would have each other. Wailana will be going home to Washington around the first of September. By then the Utah cub will be healthy enough to move over with Kapalua in the main enclosure. Kapalua is a very feisty cub so we want to make sure the Utah cub has regained the weight and strength needed to deal with rambunctious Kapalua. You can read updates & photos on each bear in Bear Journal 2011 and on IBBR's Facebook page.
IBBR's Facebook
Our Facebook has continued to grow steadily with 847 visitors. We welcome new visitors so we can keep
people informed via Facebook and the IBBR website about issues facing bears in general and bears in rehab
at IBBR. You will also find additional pictures and information on Facebook about the bears in the rehab
program. Please invite your family, co-workers, & friends to visit both our Facebook and sign up for our
website e-mail.
On September 10, (one day only) our Facebook friends will be holding a party to raise funds for IBBR. We'll
have some new video of the bears too. Please join us for the fun and good luck in the drawings. Visit our
home on Facebook for more information.
Online "House Warming" FUN(d)raiser Party on the IBBR Facebook Page!
We are delighted to announce that we will be celebrating the "moving in together" of the two cubs, Kapalua and Wailana currently in rehab at the IBBR. As the two cubs have recently been moved into the same enclosure, we thought we would throw an onlineparty for our wonderful supporters and bear friends. Now we can also celebrate the arrival of the Utah cub. We hope to see youthere for a 24-event, which will include fun, games, banter and amazing prizes.
Our very special friend – bear expert Else Poulsen (author of 'Smiling Bears') - will be making a guest appearance during the event. She might even bring along with her the famous Geezer in Red!
Bring along your bear jokes, bear videos, bear photos, bear stories, etc. – and don't forget to invite your friends too!
The IBBR House Warming Party will be held on Saturday 10 September 2011 and will start at 8:00am EST. All donations of $10 or over will be eligible for prizes drawn throughout the entire event.
We look forward to seeing you!
Bear hugs from the IBBR Facebook Admin Team
PS. Should you be interested in donating a small prize for this event, please contact Lisbeth via lramos@ mail.dk – all prize
donations are greatly appreciated.
If you live in the Treasure Valley area, IBBR will be one of the beneficiaries of this fundraising event, Run Fido Run. The event takes place on September 10th at Eagle Island State Park. No, the bears won't be participating
in the run – they will be dozing lazily in the dens. For more information if you live in the Treasure Valley,
visit their website at www.runfidorun.org or on Facebook. Join the event and help all the worthy causes.
Baby Planet TV Show
Did anyone get a chance to see the Baby Planet show recently? Some of the cubs at IBBR are a featured
segment! We heard it aired on the East coast, but as far as we knew it had only aired in the UK and Europe.
We have a copy and we are trying to obtain permission to show the segments about IBBR on our website.
We'll keep you posted as we know anything.
More New IBBR Video Coming Soon
When we merged Kapalua and Wailana the first part of August, one of the caretakers had the camcorder in
hand. We are editing that video now and hope to have it on the website and Facebook in the near future.
Check back for that.
July & August Difficult Months
While it's been hot days for the bears, it's also been a couple of difficult months for us humans at IBBR. It
started with the well pump shutting down and refusing to start again. Four days later after hauling in water
for us and the bears and installing a new pump for about $1800, we had water again. I don't think we will
ever take it for granted again! We had the bear's swim tub full with water flowing in and out at the same
rate. We shut down the flow out so they still had water to play in, but it was dirty after one day. Who would
think a bear would care about that, but there were definitely more than one dirty looks aimed our way during
the feeding & cleaning until the water was flowing again.
Then the intern's house innocently lost a few tiles around the bathtub & shower. No problem, just put them
back up or buy new ones. A week later, our repair person determined we had a nice family of carpenter
ants in the wall and it suddenly became major repairs, maybe even beyond what we think the worst is now.
I wonder if we forgot to tell the universe that we needed money to feed and care for bears, not buy a new
water pump and make housing repairs. Bear caretaker Amy lives in the intern's house. First it was 4 days
without water & now she is facing a few weeks without a shower or bathtub as we try to fund the repairs.
The bears don't seem very receptive to sharing their swim tub.
IBBR transport team Larry and Terri Limberg lost their beloved dog Pearl this year. Pearl went on all the trips to pick up and release bears. She was always a part of IBBR's transport team. Recently Larry& Terri adopted Grace from the local Humane Society. She is now the newest member of the transport team and we welcome her to our bear family. I wondered if they told her exactly what being part of the transport team involved, but it appears from the picture, she is right at home with bears.
 
Message From Valerie Leboeuf - Donor Development and Engagement
As IBBR continues to affect positive change in the lives of individual bears and world-wide bear populations,
and as an extension of our rehab work, we're continuing to develop additional programs that will help to
support the direct rehab work of IBBR, assist more bear rehabilitators around the world, educate the public
about bear rehab and the wild environment of bears, and make a lasting positive impact on programs that
oversee bear rehabilitation and release. In the last year, we've presented to wildlife rehabilitators and other
professionals from around the world at the International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council's (IWRC) 2010
Symposium in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and at the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association's (NWRA)
2011 Symposium in Albany, New York. We were able to share information about rehab and black bears with
the general public at the Boise Music Fest in July, reaching many people, out of the 75,000+ in attendance,
who might not have known that rehabilitation is even an option for orphan cubs. We'll be at local charity
fundraiser, Run Fido Run in September, and IBBR has been invited to participate during Poster Presentations
at the upcoming Advancing Bear Care 2011 in Banff, Canada,
October 2011.
To help support the rehab program and our outreach efforts to
other professionals and the general public, we're continuing our
fundraising campaign "Giving Cubs a Second Chance of Freedom"
as a part of our continuing celebration of 22 Years of Successful
Black Bear Rehabilitation. If you would like to support our efforts,
please consider a donation to our program today.
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