An orphaned bear cub that made news last April is alive and well, according to biologists with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
On the night of April 3, 2018, Game Warden Alan Dudley responded to a call from the Caribou Police Department. A mother bear had died after being struck by a car and the orphaned male cub had wandered off.
Dudley found the cub and contacted wildlife biologist Amanda DeMusz, who suggested placing the cub in a den with another hibernating mother bear and her own cub.
[Biologists place orphaned bear cub with new mother]
Jen was an experienced mother bear that the department had been monitoring with the aid of a tracking collar. Biologists had found her in good shape with her single cub a few weeks before the male cub lost his mother.
DeMusz and fellow biologist Randy Cross took the cub deep into the woods, placing him in the den with Jen and her female cub.
The bear research crew was out checking on dens again this year, according to DeMusz, and is happy to report that the adopted cub, now a yearling, is alive and well with his new mother and sister.
Biologists fitted the sister with a tracking collar to be added to the research project. Only female bears are fitted with tracking collars, so the orphan male did not receive a collar, but he did receive new ear tags.
The family is now snug and safe back in their den. The yearlings will both leave their mother this spring to start their own lives.
This story was originally published in The County.