Wild About Teller
Editor’s Note: This is a regular monthly column from Colorado Parks and Wildlife about wildlife issues in Teller County by a career wildlife officer.
Releasing eight orphan bear cubs on Pikes Peak produces wildly mixed emotions
By Tim Kroening
District Wildlife Manager, CPW
On Jan. 15, a team of Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers and my Teller County Bear Aware volunteers joined me in releasing eight orphaned black bear cubs back into the wild on Pikes Peak. It was a day of wildly mixed emotions for me.
It was exhilarating to play a key role in building artificial dens for them and carefully packing them inside, knowing that when they awaken from their hibernation, they will roam the mountain wild and free as they were intended.
Still, it was a bittersweet day for me. As good as it made me feel to give these cubs a second chance at freedom, I felt bad as I recalled why these cubs were orphaned.
And I was haunted by the fear that I’ll be back next winter with more orphaned bears, unless humans who share bear habitat get serious about securing their garbage and making their homes unattractive to these amazing creatures.
For these cubs, it all started last February when they were born in real dens where their mothers were spending the winter. Cubs are born blind, toothless and are covered in fine hair. No doubt it was cold and dark, but with their mothers care, they made it out of the den by mid-May.
Unfortunately, last summer we experienced a prolonged drought and many fires locally and around the state. These events affected the bears.
During a year with normal rainfall, sows face pressure to find extra food to support their cubs. Drought and wildfire strip the forests of the grasses, nuts, berries and grubs the bears need to survive and thrive. In the absence of food, they went searching.
Bears can smell up to five miles, if conditions are right, and these sows followed their noises into towns to smelly trash cans packed with garbage and unprotected from wildlife.
I studied the background of each orphan we released and it’s clear humans are to blame for their sad circumstances. In each case, sows were attracted to unsecured trash, open garage doors and windows, and things like dog food and bird seed and barbecue grills coated with grease or food remnants irresponsibly left out by humans.
Two of the orphaned cubs were found in downtown Colorado Springs, far from bear habitat. Their mother was never located and we believe she was likely killed by a vehicle or train. The same was true for a bear cub that was discovered to be orphaned on the Air Force Academy. But the only reason a sow would risk leading her cubs into the heart of a busy city was the smell of garbage or other attractants.
Two more of the cubs were orphaned when their mother was shot by a resident of the Crystal Park area after entering a garage door. The sow had been getting into open garage doors and possibly open windows. The homeowner tried to haze the bear, inadvertently killing it.
The last three cubs came from Manitou Springs where their mother had been getting into unsecured trash and other attractants like bird seed left out in a neighborhood. The sow grew more and more comfortable with people until she became brazen enough to enter and occupied home, pushing through the screen of an open window.
Inside, the sow opened the refrigerator before it was discovered by the homeowner. For human health and safety reasons, the sow was euthanized.
Once a bear becomes habituated to people, they become dangerous and unpredictable. This is one of the toughest parts of our jobs as wildlife officers. None of us like to euthanize wildlife, especially when there is young involved.
All eight of these orphaned bear cubs were taken to Wet Mountain Wildlife Rehabilitation in Wetmore, where licensed wildlife rehabilitators, Tom and Cec Sanders, finished raising the cubs and preparing them for hibernation. The Sanders do a great making sure these bears have minimal human interaction, while at the same time making sure they get the food they need to grow and survive a tough winter in the wild.
Their work set the stage for Jan. 15 when we released the eight orphans in the two artificial dens.
My day started out at 4 a.m. as I headed down to the rehab facility with three other wildlife officers. We arrived around 7 a.m. and began carefully sedating each cub. Each was put on a gurney and weighed before being loaded into a bear trap for transport to Pikes Peak. The locations are kept secret to help ensure that these cubs are not disturbed.
The cubs were transferred from the cages to their artificial dens using sleds. Weighing from 110-160 pounds, these bears are not easy to carry. Then I had the task of crawling inside the dark, cramped den and carefully pulling them inside. I positioned each so they could easily breathe. Finally, I administered a drug to reverse the tranquilizer and crawled out.
The dens were quickly sealed and everyone left the area as the bears can wake up within minutes. The bears likely woke up and explored their surroundings, possibly leaving the den for a brief time.
I expect them to use these dens through the winter until they wake up this spring, likely sometime in April. Bear cubs in the wild would be leaving their mother at this same age, so the chances that these bear cubs make it is very good.
As I trudged through knee-deep snow up the hill from the den, I stopped and looked back and reflected on our work. I’m proud of what we accomplished, don’t get me wrong. But I hope I never have to place another orphan in another artificial den.
Whether we are back next winter, repeating this process, is up to you. Please help me make this that last artificial den I ever build on Pikes Peak. Use bear-proof trash containers. Remove your bird feeders for the summer. Feed your pets indoors. Close your garage doors and make your home unattractive to bears.
Need a good reason to do it? I just gave you eight good reasons. Eight orphan bear cubs.
As always, if you have any questions, concerns, or want more advice on avoiding wildlife conflicts, please give me a call at 719-227-5281.