Some furry new friends
We got quite the treat this week! Our administrative assistant, Paula Hooks is married to a wildlife biologist (Mark Hooks) with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC). They have been running a program over the last several years to relocate black bears from the White River National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Arkansas to the Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge in extreme southern Arkansas. This involves locating a female bear (called a "sow") with young cubs, and moving them in the spring while they're still denning to their new home. Sows with newborn cubs are moved because they generally are less likely to try to return to the White River NWR. The AGFC allow a limited number of civilians to watch and/or participate in the release of these bears, so we took advantage of this opportunity last Thursday, and met up with the AGFC staff on this trip.
We got to the release spot mid-morning, and waited while they tranquilized the sow. After she was calmed, they removed the two cubs she had with her in the box or kennel-like structure they were transporting her in. While they took measurements and samples on the sow, the rest of us got to hold the cubs, as you can see Hope doing in the picture below...
The cubs were small (probably less than 8 pounds each) and were initially scared of the events that were going on. They nestled into whomever was holding them (unfortunately, both Kenny and Beth were too skittish to hold either cub). Hope spent a lot of time cuddling them (there were two cubs: one male and one female). Lots of pictures were taken--this was a good PR event for the AGFC and the Fesenthal NWR.
The picture above is of Hope touching the fur of the sow, who is blindfolded to protect her eyes from drying out while medicated. This sow was probably a couple hundred pounds, and looked to be in good shape.
We think the kids were reluctant to hold the bear cubs because of their large claws--just seconds after this picture was taken, the cub I was holding pawed at Beth--not really touching her, but she shied away and cried as if she had been teasing Mooch (our cat) and got a swift swat with a cat paw. They were both happy to pet the cubs, and seemed to think it was a neat event, even if they didn't really understand what was going on. Both were very well-behaved, although Beth got a little squirrelly at the end.
For those of you concerned about the welfare of the cubs and all the handling they got, I wouldn't lose too much sleep over it--this little guy didn't. They were handled as gently as if they were babies, and Hope actually had the male cub fall asleep in her arms. The bears had virtually no smell to them, unlike those bears you'll see penned up as display items. Hopefully, these bears will acclimate to their new home and help reestablish the population in this area. This was definitely one of the better perks about working in natural resources!
We got to the release spot mid-morning, and waited while they tranquilized the sow. After she was calmed, they removed the two cubs she had with her in the box or kennel-like structure they were transporting her in. While they took measurements and samples on the sow, the rest of us got to hold the cubs, as you can see Hope doing in the picture below...
The cubs were small (probably less than 8 pounds each) and were initially scared of the events that were going on. They nestled into whomever was holding them (unfortunately, both Kenny and Beth were too skittish to hold either cub). Hope spent a lot of time cuddling them (there were two cubs: one male and one female). Lots of pictures were taken--this was a good PR event for the AGFC and the Fesenthal NWR.
The picture above is of Hope touching the fur of the sow, who is blindfolded to protect her eyes from drying out while medicated. This sow was probably a couple hundred pounds, and looked to be in good shape.
We think the kids were reluctant to hold the bear cubs because of their large claws--just seconds after this picture was taken, the cub I was holding pawed at Beth--not really touching her, but she shied away and cried as if she had been teasing Mooch (our cat) and got a swift swat with a cat paw. They were both happy to pet the cubs, and seemed to think it was a neat event, even if they didn't really understand what was going on. Both were very well-behaved, although Beth got a little squirrelly at the end.
For those of you concerned about the welfare of the cubs and all the handling they got, I wouldn't lose too much sleep over it--this little guy didn't. They were handled as gently as if they were babies, and Hope actually had the male cub fall asleep in her arms. The bears had virtually no smell to them, unlike those bears you'll see penned up as display items. Hopefully, these bears will acclimate to their new home and help reestablish the population in this area. This was definitely one of the better perks about working in natural resources!
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-bill