10/13/2026
We’re so quick to say we “shouldn’t interfere” when it comes to doing something good for the animals, but we sure have no qualms about doing things that destroy their ecosystem or them. Glad to see this happening for them.
Bear cubs were coming into Colorado's wildlife centers this summer at half the weight they should've been. Some weighed 17 or 18 pounds in late August, which is about right for May.
Drought, a spring freeze and wildfires left the state's black bears short of berries and acorns. Hungry mothers walked off from cubs they couldn't feed. Others got into conflicts with people and were killed. By the end of August the state had put down 294 bears. A year earlier the count at that point was 83.
Wildlife officers brought the cubs in. The state's Frisco Creek center in Del Norte had 41 by late September, about twice what it sees in a normal year. A nonprofit in Silt, the Pauline S. Schneegas Wildlife Foundation, had more than 30. Last year it had three.
Caretakers stay behind screens when they feed, so the cubs don't learn to connect people with a meal. The menu is fish and berries, and peaches come in by donation. Donors have filled the Silt foundation's meat freezer too.
A cub that reaches 60 pounds is due to be let go in November. The smaller ones will spend the winter in den boxes and go out in spring.
