Inside a large treed enclosure at Critter Care Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre are three orphaned black bear cubs, fattening up for the winter.
Noah is the oldest but will have trouble hibernating this year because two cubs from Princeton joined him recently and are keeping him too busy, playing and eating.
Noah’s story is very sad but he is adjusting and thriving, said Critter Care’s founder Gail Martin.
“He’s actually a bit chubby,” she said. “He’s doing so good. They are all doing good.”
Noah was found near the bodies of his mother and two siblings on the busy highway in Squamish. The others had been hit by a vehicle, but Noah walked away unscathed. He was taken to Langley’s Critter Care by conservation officers.
Koda and Kenai just arrived in Langley from Princeton. Residents in the area spotted three cubs without a mother and called conservation officers in concern for them.
Everyone worried the bears wouldn’t make it through the harsh winter without a mother to help them out. They are currently looking for the third cub and hope to reunite that bear with the others at Critter Care shortly, said Martin.
“Bears are very shy creatures so they are easy to rehab,” said Martin. Dozens of bear cubs have been rehabilitated in Langley and returned back to the wild.
These three bears will be released to an undisclosed, remote area of B.C. in spring, depending on how they do over the winter.
This year, Critter Care has helped close to 1,200 injured and orphaned wildlife.
Several have come in with leg traps.
This is a busy time of year with the time change making it dark earlier in people’s driving commute, said Martin.
“We get a lot of injured animals,” she said.
Critter Care is once again hosting their Christmas Shopping Spree Days in an effort to raise money to help all these animals.
“I’m still wishing a millionaire would walk through these doors and help!” half-joked Martin.
Critter Care’s Christmas shopping starts Dec. 3 to 16, every day from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 481-216 St.
Get your Christmas shopping done inside the Critter Care education centre where you will find everything from the 2013 Critter Care calendars, children and adult PJs, T-shirts, hoodies, critter custom socks and foster certificates for those people on your list who have everything.
There are animal print mouse pads featuring Hoover the bobcat or Noah, the bear cub, giclees and wood art and lots more.