COOKVILLE, N.B. – The future’s looking a lot brighter for three orphaned bear cubs. The cubs have been calling the Atlantic Wildlife Institute home since Monday.
“They’re being bottle fed four to five times a day until they can get to the next stage of feeding on their own,” says Pam Novak the institute’s director of wildlife care.
The cubs were found last week by passersby along the highway near Fredericton. There are two females and one male about eight weeks old.
No one knows how they got there, but a blanket and basket wasn’t far away.
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“What happened to the mother, and how someone else ended up with he cubs… that’s still the mystery,” Novak said.
Staff say its common for people to find animal orphans this time of the year.
“Unfortunately we’re going into what we refer to as baby season, which is out busiest time of the year where we’ll have orphans from all different types of species,” she said. “These are the first of the babies this year so we’re just at the beginning of the season for it.”
Some people call the Greater Moncton SPCA about orphaned baby wild animals, but the staff there say they can’t help.
“We do tell people to leave the animals where they are and call Atlantic Wildlife. They’re the experts,” says Karen Nelson, the SPCA’s executive director.
Novak says the bear cubs will remain at the refuge until they can fend for themselves.
“The bears are going to be with us until a full summer to winter cycle is complete. So we wouldn’t be releasing them until July 2014.”
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