The log mounted between two posts in the bear enclosure is the latest victim. It has joined four other climbing trees, five den boxes and a piece of ceiling in the roofed part of the pen in spelling out an unmistakable message: my yearling bears want out.
They are tearing apart everything they can get their paws on. They have grown in size and confidence, and are so clearly ready to go.
Just how ready these bears are to be returned to the wild when it comes to exposure to humans was brought home to me just recently. Though it wasn’t my personal achievement, nothing made me prouder of my bears than seeing how they react to a strange person. The vet and his assistant came to give the approval for Huck, a bear who had been very sick in October and who has since fully recovered, to be released.
As soon as the bears heard the unfamiliar voices, their noses went up to catch a whiff of these strange humans. In stark contrast to how they ignore the presence of me and my co-volunteer Brooke and just keep going about their business, all 13 cubs fled up the climbing trees, huffing nervously, when the vet and his assistant approached the fence. Not a single bear wandered over to check them out. They all kept their distance.
I had heard from NLWS’s founders Peter and Angelika Langen that this would be how the bears react to strangers, but seeing it in action — witnessing how hard my cubs try to avoid people they don’t know — gave me goosebumps. The bears showed the same reaction when the camera team that is filming the second season of Wild Bear Rescue about the shelter arrived. I feel extremely confident that these cubs will show no inclination to approach humans once they have been released.
The behaviour of the bears is due to the fact that at Northern Lights Wildlife Shelter, they are being cared for by the same two or three people. Exposure to other humans is limited to an extremely small number and kept strictly neutral (no positive experience such as getting fed) or negative (getting caught for a health check or transport). The bears learn there is nothing to be gained from people. Soon, they’ll be released into the lives they were meant to live. They’ll never know how grateful I am for the incredible insights they’ve given me into bear behaviour.