Dog Brings Home a Cute Baby Animal, Turns Out It’s a Bear Cub

(TMU) — A Virginia family was surprised when their family dog arrived home carrying a tiny bear cub in early February. With the mom nowhere in sight, the family, unsure what to do with the dehydrated cub, called the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF) A biologist collected and transported the cub to the Virginia Wildlife Center.

Once there, the cub, weighing just 1.2 pounds (540 grams) was put into an incubator and the rehabilitation team started the re-feeding process straight away. “It’s a great example of all of us working together to provide what a wild animal needs most,” said Amanda Nicholson, director of outreach at the Wildlife Center.

UPDATE from Amanda Nicholson at the Wildlife Center where the cub was treated: ‘’Good news, everyone! The black bear cub was successfully fostered on Wednesday! He’s out in the wild with a new mom now.” Sit back, relax and keep on reading.

Fortunately the bear cub was in good health when he was found. “It is fairly common for us to receive wild animals that have been picked up by pets, but it’s uncommon that they are uninjured. Sadly, we see a significant number of injured wildlife from free-roaming house cats, and dogs will also often disturb nests of some ground-dwelling wildlife,” Nicholson said, and explained further:

“We treat more than 3,000 wild animals each year in our hospital; a number of animals come to us sick or injured, and we have a veterinary team at the ready to provide whatever treatment or surgery is necessary. We also receive a number of healthy orphaned animals, and our rehabilitation staff will raise them until they are old enough to survive on their own back in the wild. In the case of this bear, we settled him into an incubator and calculated a ’round-the-clock feeding schedule with a specialized formula to meet his nutritional needs.”

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On February 6, an infant male Black Bear cub (patient #20-0084) was admitted to the Wildlife Center. The cub was found the evening before in Washington County when a family dog brought home the tiny cub. The homeowners were unsure where the cub came from, so they called the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF). A biologist transported the cub to the Center. . . . To read more about this patient, visit the link in our bio! . . . #wildlife #bearsofinstagram #wildlifeconservation #conservationeducation #wildlifehospital #wildlifemedicine #blackbearcub

A post shared by Wildlife Center of Virginia (@wildlifecenter_va) on Feb 7, 2020 at 9:57am PST

While the baby black bear’s weight hardly tipped the scales, once he’s grown into an adult he could weigh as much as 550 pounds (250 kg) and have the strength to flip boulders weighing over 308 pounds (140 kg) with a single paw. These majestic animals also excel at climbing and swimming and love climbing trees, swimming, and taking showers to cool down and perhaps catch a snack or two while they’re at it. Needless to say, bears can be scary and are dangerous so it’s best to avoid contact.

The Alberta Government in Canada, with a population of 40,000 black bears, shared the latest guidelines for handling a black bear in the wilderness on their website:

“If you find a bear cub alone, do not interfere with it. Doing so can be detrimental to the bear’s well-being, and can place you at high risk if its mother is nearby. Although black bear cubs normally remain with their mothers for up to 17 months, they are self-sufficient at five months.’’

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It’s raining at the Center today, but we couldn’t be happier. . . . We received word from DGIF that yesterday this little bear cub was successfully fostered out to a wild bear mom with three other young ones! . . . Grow up big and strong in the wild with your new family, little one! . . . This bear (patient #20-0084) was the second successful foster that we’ve had in 2020! The first was bear patient #20-0064. To read more about these cubs’ stories, visit our website! . . . #wildlife #blackbearsofinstagram #wildlifeconservation #conservationeducation #wildlifehospital #wildlifemedicine #blackbear

A post shared by Wildlife Center of Virginia (@wildlifecenter_va) on Feb 13, 2020 at 6:20am PST

Cubs can become orphaned for several reasons including a mother’s inability to produce milk, a fire or a drought, or when humans disturb dens. A black bear cub can also become an orphan should its mother be killed, likely by a vehicle, a hunter, or after a clash with humans.

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My hobbies include eating, and thinking about the next time I will be eating. . . . Black Bear cub patient #20-0064 continues to eat well for the rehabilitation staff at her round the clock bottle feedings; the bear cub now weighs 705 grams [a 139 gram increase since admission weight]. The staff have not yet heard from DGIF biologists on the search for a surrogate bear mother. . . . #wildlife #bearsofinstagram #wildlifeconservation #conservationeducation #wildlifehospital #wildlifemedicine #blackbearcub

A post shared by Wildlife Center of Virginia (@wildlifecenter_va) on Feb 4, 2020 at 9:55am PST

By Jade Small | Creative Commons | TheMindUnleashed.com