The morning began with butterflies in my stomach. It was an adventure, and opportunity of a lifetime. I had a chance to go into the backcountry with a group from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and find a black bear den with a momma and cubs. It’s amazing how brave I can be amongst a group of strangers, in a situation far out of my comfort zone. But when put to the test, I pretend to be as tough as anybody else.
The morning began in a parking lot outside of Heber, Utah at the Forest Service Office. We stood around as a group discussing how great it would be to hold a bear cub. Some people in the group had already been “bear denning” and knew the hard work it would take to find the den.
This odd group of DNR employees, their spouses and children, friends of friends, and the news media piled into trucks pulling snowmobiles and headed to Daniels Canyon about ten miles outside of Heber. We loaded the 30 plus people onto 18 snowmobiles and headed several miles up to the trail head. I’m sure the group of us were a sight to see.
Where the aspens thickened, we ditched the machines, strapped on snowshoes and headed for the hills.
Being that I work for the news (that’s how I got invited along), I had to carry my 20 pound Beta SX camera on my back in a backpack, along with microphones, food and water. I won’t say much about the awkward weight of the pack, other than I was like a turtle on its back every time I fell whether it was face up or face down.
With a radio transmitter, a GPS, and a flyby earlier in the week, the DNR officers got to work trying to find this sow. The majority of the group hung back so as to not disturb the men or the machinery. The hillsides were throwing the signal around making it difficult to find the den. A mile and a half later and 600 feet straight up the side of a ridge, the black bear had been found.
Once this momma was drugged and safely asleep, the men pulled her out of the den to check her radio collar. Inside her home, they found four cubs, three male and one female. The sheer number of cubs by this one momma bear was amazing. Officials said it’s rare to find more than one or two cubs per sow. These babies were born fighters, coming out swinging their sharp, razor like claws and crying for their mom. One of the animal managers said they were probably born in January, and this was one of their first big outings outside the den.
One by one the cubs were passed around, cradled in jackets. Their cries were similar to any fussy baby; others were curious about these weird smelling creatures holding them in the daylight. Even though they were in desperate need of baby shampoo, holding a wild animal was mind blowing. My mothering instinct took over and I was trying to comfort this “wild child” from a completely different world. After we’d had our chance to get pictures of the cubs they were placed back into the den with their momma, and the hole to the outside world was covered with snow and pine tree branches.
Next year DNR will return to the area to try and find this mom and her yearlings to see how many of them made it through their first year. In the meantime, I hope this black bear wakes up in May and thinks of today as a bad dream. And perhaps she’ll teach her cubs to watch out for strangers and stay away from picnic baskets.
So cute!
LEAVE THEM ALONE!!
Are you aware that your photo is being used on a website purporting to SELL bear cubs?
http://www.buybears.org/henrietta.php
Obviously it’s a joke website, but I’m still not happy about them using the photo. Thanks for letting me know. How on earth did you find out about the photo?