After a great community effort, the bear cub was trapped and has been taken to Critter Care Wildlife Society in Langley where HE was assessed by a veterinarian. Now we know it is male, and beside some frostbite on his ears and being a bit skinny, weighing in at 40lbs, he has done quite well fending for himself. We suspect that the little cub may have been orphaned because of a car that hit and killed a bear on the highway near Sunset Marina over the summer. It was unlikely to survive the winter on its own, so this feels like one happy ending following a loss of life.
He will be cared for and rehabilitated over the winter and released into the wild in the Spring. We are grateful to Critter Care and Pacific Wild for working with us on permitting, capture, and now the rehab. If you are interested to learn more, they have a great book, “Caring for Critters” available for purchase online (proceeds go directly to Critter Care) or you can visit their websites to make a donation.
Thank you for all the reported sightings, this enabled us to get the job done as quickly as possible.
Hopefully the bears are now up in the mountains hibernating for a few months. It can happen that they rouse from a slumber if there is readily available food, so If you spot bears, please report to www.lionsbaybearsmart.ca so we can track their whereabouts and help remove attractants.
Thanks to Michele Langford for the photo.
