Orphaned bear cubs find winter home in Cochrane
Posted Oct 10, 2018 3:26 pm.
Last Updated Oct 10, 2018 3:32 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
CALGARY (660 NEWS) – The Alberta government is allowing the Cochrane Ecological Institute, a non-profit wildlife facility, to keep two orphaned black bear cubs through the winter.
Charlie and Maskwa came to the institute back in June and were initially supposed to be released on Oct. 15.
“If they were released now, they would have less than a 30 per cent chance of survival, but if they are released after they’ve had one hibernation, the chance for survival goes up to slightly more than 80 per cent,” explained Clio Smeeton, president of the institute.
Smeeton says the early snowfall changed the minds of provincial officials.
The cubs are in a four-acre enclosure.
