‘Joy is felt by all’ as orphaned bear cubs return to the Colorado wilderness. See it
It’s that time of year when orphaned bear cubs return to the wilderness in Colorado, so long as they’ve fattened up enough, wildlife officials said.
“Tis the season — for rehabilitated bear cub releases!” Colorado Parks and Wildlife Southwest Region said on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Yesterday outside Pagosa Springs, we released two sets of cubs (five total) in two different locations after the cubs spent the summer at our Frisco Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Del Norte.”
Photos show three of the cubs peering out from a cage before they venture out.
“These first three cubs were orphaned this summer in mid-July near Durango,” the agency said. “After our officers caught the cubs, they were sent to Frisco Creek to grow and socialize with other bears.”
The rehabilitation center had 25 cubs come in from all around the state this summer, officials said.
“Extreme care is taken at Frisco Creek by manager Michael Sirochman to keep these bears wild,” officials said. “There’s no talking allowed near bear pens, and the bears never see a person feeding them. They get a feed diet as well as natural foods such as berries and dead fish from a hatchery.”
Photos show the fuzzy bears milling about their enclosure at the facility, always far from human contact.
“At the end of hyperphagia when the bears need to start winding down into torpor ahead (of) denning, their diet switches to high sugar and no protein,” the agency said. “Durango’s Good Food Collective donated an entire truck bed of apples and pears to help the rehab cubs again this year.”
Photos show a truckbed full of cartons of fruit.
“The bears soon instinctively try to den at the rehab. They’ll dig dens in the aspen grove pen or use sticks and hay bales to get cozy in den boxes,” officials said. “Once they do this and if they are over 60-70 pounds, they are good to release to go find their own natural dens ahead of winter.”
A video shows the first three cubs clamoring out of their cage during their release. Their nails clatter against the truckbed.
“Here’s another angle as these three Durango cubs are returned to the wild on forest service land outside Pagosa Springs,” officials said. “Two studies on orphaned black bear cubs rehabbed and released ahead of winter say bears on average make dens within 6 days of being released.”
The video shows the bears lumbering off the back of the pickup and bolting off through the snow one behind the other.
“Our own GPS data on previous releases shows the cubs will den together this winter before going their own ways in the spring,” the agency said. “We pick locations where we have great success in not seeing the bears turn back up as conflict bears or roadkill.”
Officials shared video of the other two cubs being released. Both take off into the forest and scramble up some of the first trees they find, seeking the safety of high ground.
The behavior is a very good sign of a successful rehab, officials said.
“The cubs do exactly what we want: they bolt away and show their natural fear of humans,” officials said.
Officials have released eight of the 25 cubs rehabbed at Frisco Creek this year, and they plan to release eight more next week.
“Some aren’t fat enough yet to go out for hard release,” so wildlife officials provide those back at the facility with artificial den boxes before they’re released in January or February, officials said.
Officials try to get those cubs to 80 pounds or so before release “to give them an extra head start on getting through winter and the early spring months.”
“Every year is different,” officials said. “We’ve had as few as four and as many as 40 cubs at the facility in one summer. The joy is felt by all when they return to the wild.”
This story was originally published November 22, 2024 at 3:28 PM with the headline "‘Joy is felt by all’ as orphaned bear cubs return to the Colorado wilderness. See it."
