The Cochrane Ecological Institute (CEI), home to two orphaned black bear cubs, has to build some mobile hibernating dens in a hurry. On Tuesday, Alberta Parks and Recreation agreed to extend the bears’ looming release date of Oct. 15 to spring 2019. That means the bears will be spending the winter hibernation period at the CEI, where they will likely sleep in mobile dens and be relocated before awakening in the spring. The change in release date comes on the tail of a summer-long dispute over when the bears should be released. Clio Smeeton of the CEI maintained the bears are too young for a fall release while the province said they worried the bears would become too habituated to humans if they wintered at the institute. “It’s wonderful,” Smeeton said of the new release date agreement. “I think the weather was definitely on the side of the bear cubs.” The two bears – Charlie and Maskwa – were brought to the CEI in the spring of 2018, the first bears to be accepted to the institute in Alberta since the province lifted its ban on black bear cub rehabilitation earlier this year. According to the CEI’s research, the likeliness of the bears making it to spring if released in the wild this month would have been slim. “I think they would have been eaten, I don’t think there’s any doubt. If you look at it, we’re feeding hay to the buffalo. .. it’s just an indication that the goodness has gone out of the forage they would have had to eat had they been released,” Smeeton said. “And then they would have to find a place to live. All the time they’re out there’s everything else out there wanting to fatten up for winter. “ Within the draft protocol for black bear cub rehabilitation in Alberta all the cubs must be released on or before Oct. 15 of their birth year, however, an alternative date can be discussed on a case by case basis depending on the conditions of the environment or the bears’ health. For Charlie and Maskwa, Smeeton believes the early snowfall this year and lack of forage was a blessing for the bears. “We have to make them hibernaculum and we have to really hurry with that because if this weather stays the way it is they’ll dig their own,” Smeeton said. The CEI has rehabilitated many black bears in the past, according to Smeeton, starting in 1985 until 2010 when the province placed the ban. Smeeton said the ideal age for release, according to the institute’s research, is between 18 to 20 months. Charlie and Maskwa will be approximately 14 months in April 2019. The CEI will talk with Alberta Environmental Protection regarding the bears’ release date over the winter.
