Cubs at play in Baby Land
Recently, 11 bear cubs were rounded up from their dens at Bear Country U.S.A. to begin their lives in the Baby Land area of the park.
To round up the cubs, Bear Country employees put a rod in the dens and shake it to startle the mother bears, called sows, into leaving the dens. After the sows leave, employees enter the dens and take the cubs.
Bear Country co-owner Sean Casey said in the 35 years employees have been taking bear cubs from their dens, no major injuries have been suffered by people or the animals.
“We’ve been really lucky,” Casey said. “We have a lot of procedures in place to be sure nothing happens.”
Vanessa Stoffel, Baby Land manager, said the sow will sniff around and look for her cub for a day or two but then goes back to life as usual.
“They’re really starting to get used to it,” Casey said.
The cubs are taken from the dens to increase their chances of survival.
In the wild, 60 percent of cubs do not live past their first year. In captivity, with the aid of professionals, nearly all cubs survive.
Black bear cubs are usually born in January. The 11 cubs at Bear Country are all 3 to 4 months old and weigh about 8 pounds. Cubs usually weigh about 12 ounces when they are born. Most full-grown sows weigh about 200 pounds. Boars usually weigh closer to 400 pounds, but Stoffel said the record weight for a boar black bear is 900 pounds.
Stoffel said the cubs do not seem bothered by the whole process and adapt quickly to life without their mothers.
For more information, call 605-343-2290 or go online to www.bearcountryusa.com.
