IFAW Russia: Rescued Bear Cub Found in Basement Cage Struggling to Survive

While the IFAW bear rescue centre is struggling to keep a young premature male bear cub alive, whose mother was chased out of her den and shot, they got news of a wild, one year old bear cub, held in a cage in the cellar of a private home for a week. Here is the story of the sad little cub that will now have a happy ending with a little help from IFAW’s Bear Rescue Centre.

On January 16, IFAW BRC was contacted by an animal activist from Saratov (a large city in the Volga Region of Russia, 800 km to the South-East from Moscow), reporting a year old bear cub being held in the cellar of a private house in a cage. The cub had been captured from the wild a week ago. It was likely that he was yet another victim of the Russian bear hunt.

In order to determine whether the cub was fit for release to the wild and to justify its origin to the Russian Government, Sergey Pazhetnov of BRC requested the documents on the hunt. According to the documents the hunt was legal. The hunters killed a female bear and two out of three, one-year old bear cubs that were hibernating with her in the den. The reason for sparing the life of the one little one is unclear.

Early morning on January 20, Sergey Pazhetnov then brought the bear from the outskirts of Moscow to it give a new lease on life! The cub, visibly sad at the loss of his mother and siblings is quite the survivor, very aggressive, which is a great sign that he has the potential for a successful release back to the wild! Infact he was feisty enough to take a swipe at the truck driver through the cage! The young cub’s weight was estimated to be between 25-27 kilograms, enough to hibernate through the winter.

The cub was placed in a box made cushy with hay to keep him warm in a large cage in the forest near the centre. The next morning, the cub seemed comfortable and warm and borderline hibernating. He kept out of view of the caregivers the entire time, a sign that he was ready! Not all young cubs are as fortunate as this one though. The two pre-mature female cubs from the last rescue did not survive. Most cubs are very young and succumb easily to the trauma of separation from the mother, the cold and pneumonia. The sad stories of these cubs highlighting the pressing need to lobby with the Government to introduce a ban on bear den hunting.

Comments

[Fred Smilek]

I'm glad to hear that this particular story had a relatively good ending. Best of luck to the cub!

Fred Smilek is the acting president of the Society to Save Endangered Species. It was founded two years ago by Fred Smilek along with his two best friends Charles and Jonathan. http://www.fredjsmilek.com

[BEAR LOVER]

I LOVED THAT STORY an i am so glad that the bear was alive (those hunters where meanies

[arizona bankruptcy attorney]

I think you need to be a professional with lots of experience to know how to handle a situation with a young cub.