The Wildlife Center of Virginia began admitting the black bears of 2022 one year ago.
Orphaned young cubs, cubs separated from their mothers or cubs who had suffered serious physical injuries came to call the center home. Now that they are no longer helpless cubs, but sub-adult “yearlings,” they are ready to re-enter the wildlife.
Center staff began coordinating in February with biologists from the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) to plan their releases in April, about the time when they would soon be naturally leaving their mothers if they had been raised in the wild.
Plans began to come to fruition on March 30 when DWR biologists brought live bear traps to the center’s two-acre Black Bear Complex and placed them open, but not set so that the yearling bears could become used to entering them.
The traps were baited with the bears’ favorite foods to allow them to get comfortable with the traps and want to spend time inside them. Yesterday, the traps were set. Ideally, two of the five yearlings were caught by this morning and picked up by DWR biologists. The other three yearlings will be caught and sedated on April 5, and staff will complete full physical examinations before they are returned to lives in the wild.
The center has received bear cubs for many years. The Black Bear Complex was constructed in 2013, and designed for bear cubs who need a safe space to grow. More than 120 black bears have been admitted and received care at the center.
The public can learn more about the 2022 Black Bears online, and can watch them on the Cub Cam until April 5.
The center is a non-profit organization and relies entirely on donations from the public.
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Rebecca Barnabi
