The cubs’ mother was euthanized after she attacked two people over the last month, officials said
Two black bear cubs who were found with their mother under a home in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and were then orphaned have been brought to a Ramona wildlife refuge to be raised and hopefully reintroduced to the wild.
Officials at the San Diego Humane Society Ramona Wildlife Center said the cubs were brought to them after they were found in a Monrovia neighborhood earlier this month.while she was out walking her dog in the area on March 14. The bear’s DNA also matched an attack that happened in June. Because the mother had had at least two public safety incidents in the last year, California Department of Fish and Wildlife officers went looking for her, discovering her the day after the most recent attack, living under a home with the two cubs. The incident resulted in demonstrations and a public uproar in L.A. County, objecting to the killing of the mother.Believing the cubs could be raised without making them habituated to humans, the decision was made to bring them to the Ramona center — one of three centers in the state licensed to provide specialized care to black bear cubs. “Raising bear cubs from this young age requires an extraordinary amount of time, expertise and resources,” said Autumn Welch, wildlife operations manager at the center. “We don’t want them to associate with humans in any way if they are going to have a chance to survive in their natural habitat.” After meeting with the center’s veterinarians, it was determined that the cubs were 2 to 3 months old and would need special attention from staff. “They’re kind of still a little in the awkward baby stage and kind of clumsy, so our job was basically to get them eating,” Welch said. The center tried to use bottled milk because the cubs were still nursing when they separated from their mother, Welch said. But, because of the differences in bottle feeding versus natural milk feeding, the cubs needed a diet regimen in which the food is either placed in a bowl or spoon-fed to them. “They’re eating a mixture of special bear formula, along with some protein sources and some fruit puree, all kind of mixed together in a gruel,” Welch said. “We add a little bit of honey because they have their sweet tooth already.” In order to ensure the animals avoid a dangerous generational cycle of becoming familiar with humans and conflict, the center also developed a specialized program to ensure they feel more comfortable with their own species than with the comforts of human society. A caretaker at the Ramona Wildlife Center dresses in a bear costume to prevent the bear cubs from getting used to human interaction. “We wear masks, usually in the form of bear masks or just a kind of camouflage mask, and then we wear fur coats that smell like bears,” Welch said. “And then we go in on all fours and get at their level, so they see us as more conspecifics instead of humans.” The program, Welch said, models the way in which mother bears teach their cubs how to survive in the wild by seeking out proper shelter — away from homes and neighborhoods — and how to find wood without scrounging through human garbage or around residences. The Department of Fish and Wildlife will decide on the eventual timeline for the cubs’ release back into the wild, Welch said. Rehabilitated bears are generally released in the spring — after snows have melted and there’s an abundance of food — or in the fall when they’ll be able to go through hyperphagia, or eating as much as possible to store fat for the long winter.What to know about the planned Saturday, March 28 ‘No Kings’ protests in Southern California15 hospices incorporated in a single day, in a single suite in Van NuysCalifornia governor debate abruptly canceled amid controversy over who was invited to attendGranada Hills Charter High wins state Academic Decathlon
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