What began with a desperate email ended days later with an underweight grizzly cub safely loaded into a rescue vehicle.
Angelika Langen, co-founder and executive director of the Northern Lights Wildlife Society, said she was notified by the province on July 13 about a confirmed orphaned grizzly cub near Pink Mountain, about two hours north of Fort St. John.
By Tuesday afternoon, July 14, Langen and her team were on site. The rescue effort quickly became more dangerous when a large black bear moved into the area, forcing the cub into hiding.
“When you have a big black bear like this show up, there’s a high chance that a cub gets predated on,” Langen said.
“So at this point, we weren’t even sure if she was still alive.”
The team set a humane trap and waited. Later that evening, the black bear approached the trap. To avoid capturing the wrong animal, rescuers temporarily closed it before reopening it in hopes the cub would return.
“We decided it to be a waiting game,” Langen said.
“We would leave the trap closed, but baited, and if the cub would show up, we would walk out and open the trap again in hopes of capturing the cub.”
The breakthrough came Saturday morning when a camp cook spotted the cub. The team reset the trap and, within 15 minutes, the young grizzly walked inside.
Langen said the cub had apparently survived on its own for more than two weeks before being rescued, leaving it vulnerable to starvation and predators.
“The challenges that a cub faces is to find good nutrition, so she was underweight, very skinny when we picked her up,” Langen said.
“And the other challenge, of course, is predation. They have to be in constant alert that they’re not running into a predator and get killed.”
Langen said prolonged stress can have lasting psychological effects on young bears.
“She’s pretty skiddish and nervous, and it will take her a little bit to settle in and feel secure again,” she said.
The cub is now recovering at the society’s shelter, where it will be fed and cared for until it is healthy enough for release. If conditions allow, Langen said the cub is expected to return to the wild next summer. Release sites are typically chosen 50 to 100 kilometres from areas of human activity.
Langen said early reporting from the public is critical when wildlife appears to be orphaned or in distress.
“Nobody reported her prior to her showing up at the camp,” Langen said.
“We would have been there much sooner if people would have reported.”
She said injured animals should be reported immediately. However, if a young animal appears to be orphaned, people should generally wait about 48 hours before reporting it unless the mother is known to be dead or the young animal appears weak or injured.
“If the mother is known to be dead, then it’s really important to let us know as soon as possible,” Langen urged.
“The chances of capturing close to the dead mother are way bigger than once the mom has been removed.”
Langen also challenged what she described as a common misconception about conservation officers.
“There seems to be a perception in the public that conservation officers kill everything,” Langen said.
“In 30 years of experience of working with them, I can absolutely testify that this is not true. Every animal that we get into the shelter has a conservation officer involved… they’re always helping us to save these lives.”
