The Northern Lights Wildlife Society has received a malnourished cub in its care.
A cub from 2017 arrived at the shelter a few days ago after being discovered just outside Stuart.
The cub appears to be weighing 20 lbs which is well below the normal weight of 50 lbs for this time of year.
Co-founder, Angelika Langen, says they are working on building the cub’s appetite slowly.
“It is extremely skinny and very lethargic. We are using the same approach one would use if it were a human. We are slowly introducing bland foods to avoid any stomach upsets.”
The shelter will know in a few weeks if the bear will make it. If successful, the bear would be released back into the wild in June.
“That would be the time he would naturally separate from his mother and we are using that same time frame because they are genetically prepared to be on their own.”
The shelter currently has 36 bears in its care – 12 are awake and the rest are in hibernation.