Orphaned Bear Cubs Need Your Help

In April, we received an urgent call from the National Park Service about two bear cubs wandering alone for days near heavily trafficked campgrounds in the Chiricahua Mountains.

At just a few months old, they were crying from tree canopies, seeking water and shelter in park facilities, and growing weaker by the day. Without their mother, they were defenseless against dangers they were never meant to face alone. Their rescue, organized with Arizona Game and Fish, came just in time.

When the cubs first arrived, they were sick with salmonella and malnourished. No other sanctuary in Arizona is equipped to rehabilitate and release bear cubs, making our involvement essential to their survival.

For 30 years, we’ve raised and released bear cubs back to the wild where they truly belong. It’s demanding and expensive work, but worth every bit. They need specialized diets, constant enrichment, and careful care to keep them as wild as possible. Only select staff feed them, and even then, our goal is to send the message “humans are not your friends.” 

The hardest part of loving them is making sure they don’t love us back. Their wild future truly depends on it.

And still, our vet staff watched them carry their large stuffed “Mama Bear” to their food and water bowls and snuggle her close. A heartbreaking reminder of what they’ve lost, and why we do what we do.

The bears are now living in a specially constructed outdoor enclosure designed to mimic their natural habitat while minimizing human contact, another important step toward life in the wild. 

From rescue to release, your support fuels every step. Please donate to support their journey from vulnerable orphans back to the wild bears they were meant to be and back in the wild where they truly belong.