These hairy little creatures were only weeks old when they were taken to a rehabilitator to look after them until they could return to nature.
A man in North Carolina, United States, found a box with some puppies outside his house. In order to help them, he thought it would be best to take them to the police office. However, they weren’t expecting them to be bear cubs, as opposed to dogs, as they’d originally thought.
The box, which ended up at the Camden County Sheriff’s office, had these newborns wrapped in a gray sweatshirt to protect them from the cold. Some officers went to the man’s house to pick the puppies up. At that time, they discovered that they were young black bears.
After digesting the surprise, they knew that, regardless of which animal they were, they needed immediate assistance. Therefore, they were transferred to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, according to The Dodo.
As a basic development process of these animals, during their first weeks of life, they need their mother’s body heat and breastmilk. These cubs, under 3 weeks old, had little fur and couldn’t walk. It was impossible for them to survive alone and it was incredibly lucky that there were attended to as early as they were.
They were then taken to a black bear rehabilitator from an agency that specializes in the care of these young cubs.
“This person has more than 25 years of experience rehabilitating bear cubs and is only one of the few in the eastern United States, if not in the United States, who can do this type of rehabilitation,” said Jodie Owen, public information officer with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, to The Dodo.
It hasn’t been easy, but the cubs have stayed strong and survived with the care provided by the rehabilitator.
«The cubs are not out of the woods quite yet. Bears this young rely heavily on their mothers’ milk, and the key ingredient in that milk, colostrum, and these cubs were removed from their mother during this critical time of their development,” Owen said.
