Saturday, May 31, 2008

Bear Release

These black bears were trapped as cubs last summer and fall after getting into trouble. They had been abandoned by their mothers and ended up in dumpsters, camp trailers, neighborhoods, etc. I actually caught one of them that had climbed a telephone pole south of Vernal last October.




These cubs would not have survived the winter on their own, so they were sent to a rehabilitation center in Boise, Idaho where they spent the winter. We picked them up yesterday, and I released them in the Book Cliffs today. I was able to get permission to take my whole family with me, so the wife and kids could watch the bear release. It was a lot of fun, and a neat experience for the kids to see bears so close up.



The bears were stiff and disoriented from being in a cage for over 24 hours. They didn't seem to want to leave the barrel, so I had to help them out. They looked like they had had a little too much to drink, but after a few stumbles, they loosened up and took off.



2 comments:

Tiffany said...

Thanks for sharing the video! I cant believe you had to dump them out. How is your back ? :)

Jacob said...

That is SO cool! I bet your kids thought so, too! I have this strange fascination with bears - they both intrigue and scare the heck out of me! I've had a couple of "bear encounters" while backpacking in Oregon - and last summer my husband and I had several sightings of black bears in British Columbia. Pretty amazing animals - your job sounds fun and adventurous!