ANIMALS
Tiny 15-Pound Bear Cub Rescued In Arizona Has Mysterious Origins
Bearizona Wildlife Park
An unusually tiny bear cub with mysterious origins was introduced to the public Friday at the Bearizona Wildlife Park in Williams, Ariz., after it was rescued from a residential neighborhood last week.
The cub weighed just 15 pounds when it was rescued from a neighborhood in Tucson, but seems otherwise healthy, and Arizona Game and Fish officials and Bearizona staff have no idea why he is so small.
“Bear cubs in the United States are all born close to January or February, so this little fella should be around 70 pounds this time of year, Dave OConnell, Chief Operating Officer of Bearizona, said in a statement.
A 15-pound bear should be about four or five months old. The math doesnt work,” said Mark Hart, a spokesman for the Arizona Game and Fish.
It’s also a mystery how the cub, now named Buddy, made his way down from the Catalina Mountains if he was orphaned or abandoned.
“If it got separated from its mother, regardless of why in the backcountry, how did a bear that small get all of the way off the mountain?” Hart wondered. “We would have thought that a bear that size would have been picked off by a predator. A coyote, a mountain lion, or even another bear.”
O’Connell also puzzled over why Buddy seems so comfortable around humans.
“The third part of this mystery, beyond the cubs size and relatively healthy condition, is the fact that this cub doesnt seem to have the normal fear of humans that it should,” OConnell said. “We will never know the whole story, but if someone illegally fed this cub for months, it could explain his comfort around humans. It might also explain why he is so small.”
Despite the bear cub’s cuteness, O’Connell is adamant in reminding the public never to feed wildlife.
“If you care, leave it there. A fed bear is a dead bear, O’Connell said.
Bears that become too comfortable around humans pose a danger and are typically euthanized when they enter into conflict with people in residential areas, but Buddy was spared that fate.
Bearizona said that when owner Sean Casey heard the story of the little cub’s rescue, he said, “Well, it is Christmas time and this cub is abnormally tiny, so I think he might be an elf.”
A Bearizona staffer replied, “Everyone loves that movie, so lets name him Buddy!”
Buddy was officially able to meet the public on Friday, though he remains in his quarantine area for a time.
TMX contributed to this article.
