A black bear cub rescued from an Anmore man’s porch in early January after it was found emaciated and in poor health has now nearly tripled in size as it recovers at an animal rehabilitation centre in Langley.
The animals was originally tagged with the uninspired moniker “bear number 28” when it was handed to staff at Critter Care Wildlife Society Jan. 9. At the time, the cub weighed a paltry 20 pounds (nine kilograms), but since then, the animal has nearly tripled in size, staff told The Tri-City News. And after much deliberation, they’ve finally landed on a proper name: Rocky.
“Rocky has a good appetite and favourite food is berries,” wrote operations administrator Brandon Dean in an email, adding the cub has proved “extremely shy, yet feisty.”
At this point, the animal is on a healthy path to rehabilitation and staff expect Rocky to be an excellent candidate for relocation sometime in the summer.
More than one in seven animals (15%) that make it to Critter Care are from the Tri-Cities. On average, roughly 2,000 animals are released every year from the rehabilitation centre. That works out to about 300 animals rescued and later released from either Port Coquitlam, Coquitlam, Port Moody Anmore or Belcarra.
This winter has been particularly busy for Critter Care: the facility is currently rehabilitating 29 bear cubs, and “a ton of” racoons, skunks, squirrels, opossums, otters and beavers, among other animals, said Dean.
Now, as the clocks spring forward and the province is slowly plunged into spring, several species of animals will be giving birth to offspring.
It’s just a matter of a couple of weeks, and then we’ll be in full on baby season,” said Dean. “We get a 100 calls a day.”
Where the animals are released is a closely guarded secret as the group doesn’t want to complicate reintroduction into the wild with crowds of onlookers. The orphaned, hand-raised animals are taken as far away from human contact as possible, said Dean. And if the group rescue adult wildlife, the it tries to return them to their territory.
When it comes to bears, Critter Care works closely with conservation officers — something the organization has had to devote more resources to in recent years as the number of ursine residents grows.
“We started construction of a fourth bear enclosure in December and we are slowly inching towards completion on that project, which has cost upwards of $100,000,” said Dean. “We’re growing every single year.”
Dean attributes a large part of that growth to the encroachment of residential neighbourhoods into what were once mostly inhabited by wild animals.
“If you look into Coquitlam, they’re slowly building into and up Burke Mountain. They’ve got nowhere to go,” he said.
To keep up with demand, the organization holds and annual fundraiser known as the Gala For The Critters. This year, one of the group’s sponsors has chipped in a trip for two adults on the Rocky Mountaineer train, where fully domed windows offer panoramic views along two popular routes known as First Passage to the West and Journey through the Clouds. The trip includes hot gourmet breakfast and lunch served by GoldLeaf Service chefs and free alcoholic beverages. The whole thing is worth about $5,500 and can be bid on during the gala’s live auction.
The event will be held on Saturday, April 25, at the Coast Hote/Cascades Casino (20393 Fraser Highway) in Langley. Tickets to the event cost $100 and include a buffet dinner. They can be purchased by phone at 604-530-2054 or by email at [email protected].
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Read more about bears in the Tri-Cities:
Anmore couple that helped bear cub not in trouble
Body cams, more oversight for conservation officers, says group upset over B.C. bear killings
Six bears killed in the same PoCo neighbourhood last week
Will $230 tickets save bears' lives in Port Coquitlam?
Higher fines in Port Moody will help save bears says neighbourhood champion
They decide bears' fate. Who decides theirs?
