Orphaned black bear cub rescued by Alberta wildlife centre

An orphaned, injured, and severely underweight bear cub has been rescued after trying to make a home on someone’s deck in Slave Lake.

The little black bear is now in the care of the Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation (AWIC), just northwest of Calgary, after being found trying to build a den in some snow on someone’s deck.

“He was found in Slave Lake all alone and not hibernating — a sign he had lost his mother at some point during the winter,” a Facebook post reads.

The AIWC says it’s difficult to know whether the two were separated before winter, during the fall, or after emerging from hibernation.

Scottie Potter, a spokesperson with the AWIC, says the state the bear was found was unusual.

“Not only was this bear seeming quite desperate if they were trying to build it on a person’s deck, but on top of that, this cub was very, very underweight and clearly not doing well,” she told 660 NewsRadio.

Potter says the cub weighs 12.9 kilograms — just half what he should be — and is being treated for injuries to his nose and paws, likely from digging through crusted snow to find something to eat.

“Oh yes, he’s very small,” she said. “He probably would not have survived in the wild if we had not intervened.”

She says a yearling is normally still with its mother, but since he was so small, it’s believed he may have lost her some time ago.

He’s also being treated for injuries to his nose and paws, likely from digging through snow and ice for food. Because of his poor condition, he likely won’t be able to hibernate while in care, but he’s already doing better.

“We’ve put him on a refeeding schedule, so that means we slowly introduced him to foods so as not to shock his system, and he’s now eating a normal diet of meat and fruits and vegetables,” Potter said.

In the meantime, he’ll have very little contact with his caregivers, so he doesn’t become habituated to people.

“Being exposed to human voices consistently makes it so bears lose their fear of people, so our staff do not speak when they’re around the bear,” Potter said.

Staff also dress in jumpsuits and masks so they don’t look like regular people. The enclosure is also on the opposite side of the property.

Potter says it’ll take several months for him to recover, and they plan to release him back into the wild in June.

The non-profit organization has successfully released every one of the 22 bear cubs it’s taken in since 2019.

Members of the public can sponsor the black bear online here.