The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and Appalachian Bear Rescue successfully released four black bear cubs into upper East Tennessee on Monday.
On a rainy, autumn, morning in the foothills of the Smokies, a large gathering of ABR staff and TWRA officers and biologists joined together to immobilize four black bear cubs and prepare them for their return to the wild. The cubs were collared with GPS tracking devices that allows researchers to better understand bear movements and ranges.
The cubs were taken in by ABR this spring and summer following different situations that left them orphaned. Under veterinarian medical care and a careful diet of natural foods, the cubs thrived to weights between 77 and 97 pounds.
“These bears are in excellent shape to be returned into wild and are better prepared to go to winter dens than many other bears are this year,” said TWRA Biologist Dan Gibbs. In fact, ABR received two black bear cubs from TWRA last week that were emaciated and facing starvation. Both bears were about ten months old, which is the same age as the bears released yesterday. One cub weighed just over eight pounds and the other just over seven pounds.
Officials said, "Bears are facing a tough winter this year due to a scarce crop of hard mast including acorns, walnuts, hickory nuts, and beechnuts. This follows an excellent hard mast crop from last fall, which sent bears fat and healthy into their winter dens. TWRA believes that many bears are not prepared to den up this winter and will remain in search of food while the weather remains warm. This has resulted in numerous bear complaints as they have sought handouts from humans and utilized garbage as a food source. Do not feed bears or allow them access to human food or garbage. A fed bear is a dead bear."
In its history, ABR has rehabilitated about 223 black bears, all of which were under two years of age. The TWRA permit that ABR works under allows them to take in injured and orphaned black bears and prepare them for return into their natural habitat. TWRA and ABR are strong partners in the conservation of black bears, whose population is estimated between 4,500 and 6,000.