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The following account from Appalachian Bear Rescue, a black bear rehabilitation facility in Tennessee, tells of the bears admitted to Appalachian Bear Rescue in 2009, and shows how much this much-needed organization needs your help. All bears admitted to ABR incur veterinary bills and medicines, costs associated with maintenance of housing and facilities, and food. The special formula that is given to tiny malnourished cubs to get them on the road to recovery is very expensive but vital to these bears' survival. This year proved to be quite a challenge for the bear rehab facility, because their costs sky-rocketed due to the sheer number of bears housed there. Some bears have been released back to the wild, many will overwinter there.

Please give to this worthwhile non-profit organization who helps save so many orphaned and injured wild bears. Please link here to donate to Appalachian Bear Rescue so that they can continue to help bears in distress. Your donation, no matter how much, will help with the costs of caring for these bears. Now, more than ever, they need your help. Please open your heart and give, this holiday season and also in 2010. Help put a bear back in the forest with your generous donation of any amount.

Click on the Donate Button to give now!

Photo Copyright Appalachian Bear Rescue

Used with permission to CoveBear

Appalachian Bear Rescue helped 23 cubs of all sizes in 2009!

Lisa Stewart has her hands full with bear care and facility maintenance at this

natural habitat rehabilitation facility for bears

near Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

With so many big mouths to feed, won't you please make a donation

for food for these bears? They are being nursed back to health

from dire circumstances, some were not expected to live.

Note: You will not see wild bears in groups like this out in the wild,

because bears normally do not gather in groups.

However, where bears have concentrated natural foods in the wild,

such as salmon streams and berry patches and oak tree groves,

they may share space with each other and tolerate close quarters.

The bears shown above are in their first year of life

and have not yet become adult bears.

"Our Bears: The Many Bears of 2009"

"The first two cubs arrived in March from Louisiana. (These two returned home in late October.) ABR also admitted two other cubs from Tennessee in March. (That was four.)

In April, National Park and Tennessee Wildlife officers brought two tiny cubs, each weighing less than 5 pounds. Unfortunately, the Park cub had a congenital birth defect (Hydrocephalus) and was already permanently blind when admitted. At least ABR was able to make the cub’s last days more comfortable. At the end of April, ABR’s cub population stood at two females and four males, two from Louisiana and four from Tennessee.

In mid-May, two more cubs arrived, one from Gatlinburg and one from Arkansas. (That made eight.)

In June ABR admitted another tiny male cub from Tennessee. (That’s nine.)

On July 22nd, wildlife officers from Arkansas brought 2 more cubs to ABR. Each of these females weighed about 12 pounds. (That’s 11.)

[Note: The three cubs from Arkansas were released back to the Arkansas forest in November weighing 85 pounds, 75 pounds, and 62 pounds each.]

In late August, a black bear sow was killed in a collision with a vehicle just inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, at the Townsend Wye, where one turns to enter the road to Cades Cove. She had 3 cubs, all of which were captured by a wildlife officer with the National Park who spent three days and nights in the area in order to rescue all of the cubs so they could be brought to ABR. Because the cubs (two females, one male) were malnourished, they were housed in a small cage to recover and gain weight before joining the other cubs in the large enclosure. (That’s 14.)

In early October, a hunter killed a mother bear near the Wears Valley entrance to the National Park. Unfortunately, it seems the mother and her cubs were being fed by well-intentioned people but that act of perceived kindness killed the mother because it made her a target for hunters. The mother had five cubs (which is extremely rare). Four were large enough to be relocated to a wildlife refuge. The fifth cub, however, was injured by a gunshot. After a trip to the University of Tennessee Vet School, the 40 pound cub arrived at ABR where he soon removed some of his stitches, but his injury healed very well. (This made 15 cubs.)

Later in October, ABR admitted two other bears. One, a small yearling (40 pounds) from Unicoi County, had been hit by a car and sustained a head injury. This yearling has recovered and will be released. (That is 16.) Then, the same week, ABR admitted another cub from Louisiana. A car killed this cub’s mother and brother outside of Morgan City, Louisiana but the cub eluded wildlife officers for several days by swimming across the Atchafalaya River. She weighs approximately 25 pounds.” She will spend the winter at ABR and has already denned with the three cubs from the Smokies, who will also spend the winter at the facility. (That makes 17.)

Wintering with them will be our latest arrivals from Newport and the Smokies’ Spur between Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. The Newport cub requires much rest after sustaining injuries when his mother was killed. The cub from the Spur is a female whose mother was killed by a car late on November 12th and brought to ABR by a Park officer on Friday the 13th – a lucky day for this cub!

To make our year's numbers even more incredible . . . we have admitted 4 more cubs in December . . . the last two are TINY...one weighs 12 pounds and one weighs 8 pounds. We honestly don't know how bear cubs this small have survived. Bears are survivors. They can rebound from tragic circumstances and go on to live healthy lives, provided they are given the chance to do so.

ABR cared for 23 cubs in 2009, the most we have ever cared for in one year!"

http://www.appalachianbearrescue.org/donations.htm

TO READ MORE ABOUT ABR: Black Bear Rescue

For More Information On How You Can Help, Please Contact:
Lisa Stewart, Curator

Appalachian Bear Rescue

P.O. Box 364

Townsend, Tennessee 37882

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