The San Diego Humane Society's Ramona Wildlife Center is caring for two black bear cubs from the Monrovia area after their mother was deemed a public threat and euthanized by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, officials said Tuesday.
The brothers arrived at the Ramona facility on March 15. According to the CDFW, DNA testing was used to prove the mother had been "involved in two separate public safety incidents in the area within the last year."
The cubs are an estimated 3 months old and will be raised by the SDHS' Project Wildlife team with minimal human interaction to help ensure they remain wild. To avoid habituation, staff use bear masks, animal furs and scents to conceal their human identity during care, according to a statement from the nonprofit.
"Raising bear cubs from this young age requires an extraordinary amount of time, expertise and resources," said Autumn Welch, wildlife operations manager at SDHS. "We don't want them to associate with humans in any way if they are going to have a chance to survive in their natural habitat."
According to the nonprofit, rehabilitating orphaned cubs is not only important for the baby bears, but also for "helping interrupt a dangerous generational cycle of habituation and conflict." Mother bears teach their cubs how to survive by modeling behavior. When bears learn to seek out food or shelter around people, cubs can also learn to associate homes and neighborhoods with resources, increasing the likelihood of future human-wildlife conflict.
"Situations like this underscore the importance of prevention and shared responsibility," the CDFW's Cort Klopping said. "Bears are highly adaptable and will seek out food and shelter when opportunities are present. Securing crawl spaces, removing food attractants such as unsecured trash or pet food, and eliminating access to sheltered areas around homes are critical steps residents must take to reduce the likelihood of conflict behaviors and habituation to people.
"These actions help keep both people and wildlife safe and bears wild."
