Wildlife

Orphaned black bear cubs finally have a home

Three orphaned Galena black bear cubs spent their last day at the Alaska Zoo freely frolicking around the bear cub exhibit in the public eye -- a place the triplets had previously been forbidden to go as the Alaska Department of Fish and Game determined their fate.

Thursday, Fish and Game spokesperson Ken Marsh confirmed the triplets would be heading to the Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg, Colorado, Thursday night.

A relieved Marsh skipped a "hello" in a phone call about the bears, instead going straight to the news. The first words out of his mouth were simply, "Those lucky little guys finally have a home."

During an interview with Marsh at the beginning of November, he said it was still possible that the bears could be euthanized if the plans with the Outside facility fell through.

The plans were not finalized until Thursday morning.

The cubs were at the Alaska Zoo for a month and a half after being captured by biologists in the Interior town of Galena at the end of September. Marsh had previously stated that animals being placed in Outside facilities usually only stay at the zoo for about one week.

"The wait to secure placement took longer than usual but the department was willing to work with an extended process in this case to ensure that the cubs would be housed in a safe, healthy facility," Marsh said.

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According to the Wild Animal Sanctuary's website, the Colorado facility is built on "720 acres of rolling grassland" and is home to numerous species of animals including tiger, wolf, black bear, grizzly bear, African lion, leopard, lynx and bobcat.

The website says brown and black bears "live in multiple 10-25 acre habitats with ponds, trees and their own natural dens to hibernate in."

Rachel Landerman was the cubs' primary caregiver at the Alaska Zoo. A relief zookeeper, she cared for them five days a week. She said watching the bears grow was a treat.

One of the cubs is brave, another is a follower and the third is much more cautious and last to "check things out," she said.

Landerman got to watch them on the first snowfall of the year. She said they'd bury their heads deep in the snow and make a trail using their entire round, 60-pound bodies. Not knowing their ultimate fate was hard, she said, but she stayed hopeful.

Landerman, Alaska Zoo curator Shannon Jensen and officials with the sanctuary are pleased the placement worked out but said it isn't really a reflection of how things always go.

"There just isn't a place for every orphaned black bear," Jensen said.

A phone call to the Colorado sanctuary's founder and executive director didn't shed any light on what life will be like for the bears in their new home. Pat Craig cited a policy that he said prohibits him from speaking to the media, as he said readers could "interpret the information wrong" and "believe there is always a solution" for animals put into a similar situation, when in actuality "many of them are euthanized."

The black bear cubs were captured by biologists after the Sept. 13 killing of their mother. Alaska Wildlife Troopers were still investigating the incident as of the beginning of November but calls to their regional office were not returned.

Locals took it upon themselves to feed the bears, Fish and Game said.

"The best place for them would have been in the wild, with their mom, had someone not been feeding them," Landerman said.

Jensen, standing with Landerman next to the bears' exhibit on the brisk fall afternoon, chimed in: "The people were feeling sorry and fed them but a fed bear is a dead bear. They would have been euthanized when they became a safety risk to (humans)."

According to Marsh, without human influence, the entire situation could have been avoided.

"They were old enough, and large enough, that they might have hibernated successfully and remained wild," he said.

But now their lives will be much different.

Instead of seeking out their own food, they've been feasting at the Alaska Zoo on a blend of meat, salmon, dog food and produce including apples and oranges. Instead of hibernating, they've been playing with boxes, an animal carcass and other diversions in a "den" in Anchorage.

And at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, they were put into shiny metal crates full of hay and shavings to keep them comfortable for their flight as they headed south, awake and alert, to a new home.

Megan Edge

Megan Edge is a former reporter for Alaska Dispatch and Alaska Dispatch News.

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