Photos of All Five

(Computers are wonderful, until they stop working!  Sorry for the delay again.)

We have photos to share of all of the ABR bears just being themselves.

Yearling Magnolia Bear is very good at napping in a tree. Picture of relaxation!

Our other yearling, Bumble B Bear, loves the pool in his Wild Enclosure.

Willow Bear, the latest arrival, has a unique sleeping position, stretched out on her back, paws in the air.

Mischievous cubs, Clementine and Viola having a “chat” in their Acclimation Pen.

We are glad to report that all five little bears are coming along well.  Hopefully we’ll be able to post again tomorrow!

 

 

ABR Bear #272!

ABR received another four-month-old bear cub on June 5, 2018.  Another female, she and her sibling cub were hit by a car.  Fortunately, a gentleman found the cubs and waited for two hours, hoping to see the mother return.  When that didn’t happen, he decided to take them home (it was in the middle of the night).  In the morning he contacted ABR and we contacted TWRA.  An officer picked up the cubs and took them to UT, where Curator Tom met them.  Sadly, one of the cubs had not made it, and the other was comatose.  However, she was examined as protocol dictates.  We have some photos of her exam.

Cub #272, nicknamed Willow Bear.

TWRA Officer Chris Seay helped place Willow on the examining table.

Willow was comatose and didn’t need to be tranquilized.

Her blood work was OK. No problem there.

Willow was prepared for an x-ray.

Her skull was not fractured, as the vets had feared. She had a rib that had been broken previously.

She was given a saline solution for dehydration.

The saline solution perked her up.

Willow Bear went to the Cub Nursery at ABR.

Weklcome to ABR, Willow Bear!

Willow Bear is still in a fragile state.  We are hopeful that she will rest and eat in the Cub Nursery and begin to heal.

 

 

Updates

We had more computer issues, but will try to make up for the delay in posting.

Magnolia Bear has been enjoying her relative freedom in the Wild Enclosure.  She has explored and is foraging for the food thrown over the fence by curators.

Magnolia in her Wild Enclosure.

Magnolia explores a culvert den in the enclosure.

Magnolia Bear forages for her food.

Like most other young bears, Magnolia likes to take naps high in trees.

Back at the Acclimation Pen where the two little four-month-old cubs are residing, they are getting along well.  We hope you watched the YouTube video that we posted of the two cubs wrestling and playing.  They are very active little bears.

Viola and Clementine are trying to make their honey log roll. It won’t!

The log is filled with yummy fruits and other things that bear cubs like.

The reason it won’t roll is that the curators have a cable attached to it so it can be refilled when empty.  This obviously puzzles the smart little cubs.

They also enjoy chasing peanuts around.

We hope that the computer will continue to behave so we can post regularly again.  There is a lot going on with the ABR bears!  Next time we’ll focus on Bumble B. Bear, the newest addition to the group.

 

 

Absolutely Adorable!

As promised, in this post we begin the process of catching up with recent news and events featuring our ABR cubs.  This is a video that shows the two four-month-old cubs, Viola and Clementine in their Acclimation Pen.  They are energetic and it’s obvious they are having a good time!  Click here to watch our adorable little bears at play.  We guarantee you’ll be smiling and chuckling as you watch their antics.

 

ABR Bear #271!

First of all, we apologize for going so long before a post.  Computer issues have called a halt to our posting, but we are back in business now.

Today (May 31st) Curator David met a TWRA officer at the facility and received a male yearling that had been rescued after he had been hanging around the Old Smokey Candy Kitchen for a few days.  David took the yearling to UT for his initial exam.

This little bear is the same age as Magnolia, about 16 months old.  He weighed just 23 pounds, which is underweight for a yearling, but his distended belly indicates that he has been filling up on the wrong kind of food.  Otherwise he passed his checkup and was deemed healthy.  He was sent to ABR with worm medicine and David was told that the yearling should be on water only for tonight, to help with elimination of whatever is causing his distended belly.  Tomorrow he will get to eat the usual ABR fare.

Bear #271 is nicknamed Bumble B. Bear.  Here are some introductory photos.

Bumble B. Bear before he was rescued.

The little yearling bear was not doing well on his own.

Here is Bumble B. Bear on his way to the UT College of Veterinary Medicine.

He was given a thorough exam. He was found to be slightly anemic.

X-rays were taken during the exam. He didn’t have any broken bones or internal problems.

After the exam, he went to ABR, where he is in Acclimation Pen #2.

Bumble B. Bear is the first male of the season for ABR.  He is the second yearling of the year.  We are glad that he was rescued and brought to us, and we are sure that he will make rapid progress.

We will bring you up to date with the other cubs and yearling – Clementine, Viola and Magnolia – in our next posts.  They are doing well and have provided some humorous moments during the past few days.  Stay tuned.

 

Three Bears

Curator David was fortunate to get portraits of all three of the ABR bears – cubs Clementine and Viola as well as yearling Magnolia.  Since the “official” birthday for ABR bears is January 22nd, this is close to their monthly birthday.  Clementine and Viola are now 4 months old; Magnolia is now 16 months old.

Viola Bear peeks out from behind a log in The Cub House.

Clementine is in the middle of her tree in the Acclimation Pen.

Magnolia, in another Acclimation Pen, shows her profile.

We can see that as a yearling, Magnolia Bear has a longer nose than the two cubs.  A longer nose along with relatively longer legs are characteristics of yearlings.

Magnolia demonstrated proper bear etiquette for the elimination of waste.  She backed up to the edge of her platform, so as not to foul her resting place.

Magnolia backs up to the edge of her platform.

She looks to be sure that she is far enough back.

Bears keep their spaces clean.  In a den, the mother will clean up after her tiny cubs and teach them this backing up behavior.  Magnolia learned it well.

 

Turn Back the Clock. . .

We promised to post the story of Viola Bear’s move from the Cub Nursery to The Cub House.  The big move occurred on May 19th, and was in response to the cub’s behavior.  She was “asking” for more space and to get out of the Cub Nursery.

Though her wound looks bad to us, it actually has healed and continues to heal well.

She showed her desire to move by running around and climbing in her pen.

Viola huffed and blew when a curator entered .

She was moved in this carrier. She didn’t think much of it, either!

While she was in the carrier it was possible to weigh her.  She weighed 8 pounds, which was almost double her weight at arrival (4.4 pounds).

She immediately started exploring The Cub House.

In The Cub House Viola has toys, branches to climb on, a ball to hit at and a pool for her pleasure.  The enrichment will allow her to grow and develop her strength and agility.