A wild bear cub being separated from its family is a story that is too familiar to the people at Critter Care Wildlife Society.
This past spring, Critter Care took in River, Seymour and Cedar, three orphaned bear cubs, who will need to be cared for at the society until they can be released back into the wild once they are older and stronger next spring.
Until then, Critter Care is launching the Sponsor a Bear Cub Campaign with the goal of raising $50,000 to care for the cubs.
In their fundraising campaign, Critter Care explained River’s and Seymour’s lives were put in jeopardy when they were with their mother looking for a garbage bin meal in North Vancouver.
The mother bear was killed, but the cubs were rescued and brought to Critter Care in May.
“Both of them bawled for days and suffered severe stress and uncertainty as they mourned the loss of their mother, who was gone forever. You could hear them crying from all corners of the property in that first week,” reads the campaign message.
In September, Cedar was brought to Critter Care after her mother was killed in accident in Squamish.
Critter Care assistant executive director Winona Reinsma, said the South Langley facility typically sees the most bear cubs arrive in the fall.
“When the orphan cubs are out there and the berries are gone and they’re trying to find food, they end up where they’re not supposed to be.
“The $50,000 doesn’t necessarily cover the care for all three for the time, but it’s a goal.”“
Reinsma said Critter Care is the only local organization that has is licensed to care for black bear cubs.
“We are the go-to for bear cubs for southern British Columbia, but there’s so many factors in how many we get each year.”
This fall, Critter Care staff is especially worried about bears, since wildfires that burned throughout B.C. in the summer may have displaced cubs or destroyed their natural food sources.
While caring for the cubs, Critter Care keeps human contact to a minimum to ensure the bears don’t become used to staff.
To date, Critter Care has raised $6,000 of its $50,000 goal.
To help raise funds Critter Care is hosting two public paint nights for $45 each.
The first will be hosted by artist Freda Lombard on Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. at Rusty’s Neighbourhood Pub in Surrey.
The second will be hosted by artist Donna Duval on Nov. 20 at 6:30 p.m. at the Honey Bee Centre Beestro in Surrey.
Tickets for both paint night events can be purchased online at eventbrite.com. Search Critter Care Wildlife Paint Night.
