In early May, a homeowner saw a young Black Bear cub in a tree on his property in Bedford, Virginia. Two days later, the homeowner saw the bear again – but no sign of its mother. A DGIF biologist responded to the scene and brought the cub to the Wildlife Center of Virginia on May 3.
Admitted as patient #12-0634, the male cub was examined by the Center’s veterinary team. Dr. Miranda Sadar found that the cub was dehydrated, a little underweight, and covered in ticks. Dr. Miranda hydrated the bear with subcutaneous fluids and also prescribed a dose of anti-parasitic medication. She spent some time manually removing the ticks from the bear, but was only able to remove a small fraction before determining that it would be better to get the feisty cub settled into its enclosure for the night. The cub weighed in at 2.88 kgs – or 6.3 lbs.
The bear was placed into the Center’s isolation room – a much quieter space for a young animal with a high risk of habituating to humans. Additional blood work and tick-removal will be performed on May 4. The rehabilitation staff will provide the cub with a soft diet; at this point, the cub does not need to be bottle fed.