MOVING THE BEARS- Part 2

   After completing the exam the cub is placed in the new pen and will soon wake up.

  To help speed up the recovery process Karen injects a drug that will neutralize the tranquilizer used.

  Shortly after the injection the cub raises its head and looks around at its new surroundings.

  Within a minute it has recovered enough to stand up for a better view.

  Now its time to head into the brush for a little exploring.

  By the end of the day all 6 cubs have gone through the same procedure.  The first 3 have fully recovered and after some exploration 2 of them have picked out a nice tree to climb.

  When they come back down the 3rd one comes over and checks out the tree.

  Since there's no running water in the pen a sturdy source of water has to be provided for the cubs.  This old cast iron bathtub does an admirable job.  It's heavy enough that they can't tip it over when it's full of water.

  Bears are pretty curious.  This one looks like it's trying to figure out how to open the drain and see what happens.

  From left to right we have Ken, Kristen, Dr Deb, Rachael, and Tom.  Dr Deb is the founder of Wild and Free and is the only person in the state licensed by the DNR to rehabilitate Black Bears.  Kristen and Rachael are the vet techs that spent the day helping Karen.  Ed and Tom are the 2 people that managed the construction of the new bear pen from start to finish.  They also did a lot of the work themselves.  Many thanks Ed and Tom!

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