Environmentalists feed orphaned bear cubs

Bear cubs left orphaned and thus unprotected have little chance to survive.

The International Fund of Animal Welfare’s (IFAW) rehab center is located in the Tver Region. A few years back, bear den hunting was prohibited here, though other regions still see dozens of orphaned bear cubs. IFAW rehab employees currently care for five cubs, brought from the Kostroma and the Novgorod Regions. The youngest are fed with a dairy mix, and the older ones get boiled buckwheat.
The environmental group stresses that the bears must not get used to humans. So the rehab’s employees wear the same clothes each time they visit the bears. The feeders are also not allowed to use cosmetics or perfume or even to talk in their presence.
The bear’s enclosure is over a hectare in size. The animals get accustomed to the territory and start exploring the forest after a few months. The environmentalists continue observing them via GPS equipped collars even after they leave the cage.
The GPS unit’s battery should last a year at which point the researchers will attach another one. The bear will be under surveillance for several years until it chooses a habitat. The experiment to save bear cubs was launched in the early 90s, and since then the Fund’s rehab has released more than 130 bears into the wild.