It's not every day you get to hold a baby bear cub! While doing remodeling at Railey Vacations, the maintenance team accidentally woke a hibernating sow from her makeshift den under the deck. The plot thickened when they noticed the small cubs she left behind! Once the area was cleared, and the mother bear returned, the deck was boarded back up and caution tape was placed until DNR could come to safely move the sow and cubs. DNR officers secured the surrounding area and then safely tranquilized the sow so she could be moved first, then extracted the cubs from their makeshift den. The four cubs are estimated to be 6 weeks old and were in good health. Many of the employees of nearby businesses were able to take turns holding the small cubs - truly a once in a lifetime opportunity to do so safely! There is no danger of rejection from human handling, and each cub was supervised by an officer while it was being handled by a civilian. The sow and cubs will be taken back to the DNR office to be properly identified and tagged so that the officers can keep an eye on them for future reference. The abandoned den on state ground is perfect for the mother and cubs to build their new home far away from humans and high traffic areas.
Bears should never be approached in the wild, especially bear cubs, and distance should be maintained from all wild animals at all times. This was an extremely isolated and controlled environment that was safe for all parties involved, and heavily supervised by Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the Maryland State Zoo. At no point should a civilian handle a baby animal in the wild, or attempt to approach a baby animal. While bears are scent-bound from birth, other animals, the deer with their fawns, will not return to their baby if they smell another scent. Always call DNR if you happen upon wildlife you believe could be in distress.
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