Biologist hopes for sweet salvation for stranded bear cub
CALGARY A trail of honey leading to an artificial den could be the trick to save an injured black bear cub roaming a roadside west of the city, said a Calgary biologist.
Lisa Dahlseide and her colleagues have constructed an insulated wooden box they expect will be placed on land adjacent to where the possibly orphaned yearling cub has been loitering along the side of Highway 22 at Springbank Road.
The honey would be intended to lure the limping bruin past two barbed-wire fences to a sweet prize in the box, set in a wooded area away from the highway, where it would hibernate over the winter, said Dahlseide.
“The landowner is in consultation with her lawyers on this but we hope to have it on the land this week,” said Dahlseide, who volunteers as an educator with the Cochrane Ecological Institute.
The prefabricated dens have been used extensively by the Cochrane wildlife refuge, said operator Clio Smeeton.
“They’ve been very successful ... we’ve proven they do use an artificial hibernaculum,” she said.
Dahlseide said the province has indicated that because the artificial den would be on private land, it doesn’t have any jurisdiction over it.
But Dahlseide said the best option would still be the bear’s capture and rehabilitation at the Cochrane facility over the winter and its release in the spring.
She said that while the bear’s injured leg has improved along with its mobility, it remains weakened by its long stint in the farmer’s field and nearby woods since late September.
“He’s so malnourished, he’s a really skinny bear, his chances of survival are very low and that’s why intervention is needed,” said Dahlseide.
Provincial officials say members of the public have fed the bear from the roadside, threatening to habituate it — a reality wildlife rescuers say bolsters their argument the animal be removed. Last month, the institute applied to the province for a temporary shelter permit to enable it to take in the bear, whose predicament has captured the public’s sympathy.
But Alberta Environment and Parks has rejected the approach, noting it’s illegal for wildlife rescue groups to treat such animals and release them, though it’s currently reviewing the policy.
For now, they insist the best policy is to let nature takes its course.
The ministry argues such rehabilitation habituates animals, a stance rejected by Smeeton and Dahlseide.
Other western provinces and states allow for the treatment of injured animals, proponents of the practise note.
“That’s the much bigger issue here,” said Dahlseide.