Norman the bear

Spring has sprung at the shelter, all the snow has completely disappeared, the sun is shining, and occasionally the rain comes pelting down, but being from England i'm pretty used to this and always receive some weird looks when i'm feeding animals in my rain coat insisting that it's 'just water, calm down'.

With spring comes baby animals so we are busy preparing for the baby season which starts next month. However we did receive a very cute guest a few days ago.

Meet Norman.

Norman is a baby black bear around 3 months in age. He was found alone in the Penticton region of BC which is around 650 miles south of where the shelter is. He was transported up to us and currently resides in the hospital pen where he is doing very well.

Norman is in relatively good shape, if a little underweight. For comparison the three cubs we looked after in March, despite being a month younger, weighed more then Norman when they arrived. These bears are good examples of what the prime weight should be, as they have (except for one night) never been separated from their mother. The fact that Norman weighs less than them and is around the same size could be cause for concern. However he is very active has been put on a diet of milk, porridge and apples.

Did I mention that he is also too cute for words? He has two cuddly toys for comfort and watching him play fight with them, or attack pieces of straw is adorable. He shows that straw who's boss. In the hospital pen there is a shelf around a meter of the ground. Norman, despite being tiny, somehow managed to climb his way up onto the shelf, only to then get stuck and was unable to get down without help. He kept doing this until we eventually made a ramp so he wouldn't get stuck anymore. Only now that there is access to the shelf he suddenly isn't as interested in going up there any more. Typical man.

Norman will stay in the hospital until he gains weight and starts eating more solid food once he is off the milk and big enough he will eventually be transported to one of the outside pens up on the hill, where he will continue to hopefully gain weight and be monitored until it is time for release in just over a years time.

What my days are really like

After last weeks post about tranquilizing bears I had a lot of people tell me that my job sounds cool/amazing/awesome/dangerous e.t.c. I will admit that getting to work so intimately with the bears was pretty cool, however that  sort of work only occurs every now and then. It is definitely not representative of what a day working in a wildlife shelter is really like. I thought it would only be fair to explain what a typical day working here is actually like.

8-8.30 am - I have to be in the kitchen between these times to start the morning feeds and prepare the buckets of food for the morning bear feed. What time I have to be up depends on how many buckets I have to make as well as how long it will take to feed all the guinea pigs, rabbits, rats, owls (Cricket especially likes to fly on to my head whenever I go into her enclosure so I normally factor in an extra 10 minutes just for this, as getting her back on a perch can be a mission in itself), the cat and the dog.

9am - Breakfast for me :D

9.30am - Back down to the kitchen to make the bear buckets for the evening, the moose feed bucket and to prepare the meat to feed the big cats. Even though we don't feed until much later on in the evening it is important that the buckets are made as early as possible because we never really know what could happen in a day. We could be called out to a bear rescue at any moment and if the buckets aren't done then by the time we get back we could end up rushing around to feed the animals. The buckets are made by chopping up fruit and vegetables that are donated by the local supermarkets. The moose bucket takes an especially long time as the food has to be chopped much smaller. After the buckets are prepared the whole kitchen needs to be cleaned so it is spotless and all the washing up done. The shelter is open for inspection at any time so this is extremely important. All food donations need to be separated and put away.

11 am - Cleaning of any animal enclosures that need to be done. With 39 guinea pigs, 9 rabbits, dozens of rats and 2 owls this can take a long time so they are managed throughout the week each being cleaned once or twice a week as needed.

1pm - Lunchtime :D

2pm - Depending on whether or not we got all the cleaning done in the morning the afternoon could be spent doing a range of things. More cleaning of the storage room or the hospital might happen. We could work on some enrichment for the permanent resident animals here. Yesterday we made pumpkins for the big cats, filled them with meat and carved small openings into it and watched Igor, the lynx, play football with it and have a great time. We could also clear land of overgrown weeds, feed horses or sometimes help get horses in and brush them if there is a trail ride booked for the afternoon.

3pm - Drive into town to pick up food donations from the supermarkets. Occasionally (almost always) stopping at Dairy Queen for a cookie dough blizzard. Some days the donations are brought in by a family member who works in town, so this isn't a daily job for us.

5pm - Evening feeds for the animals downstairs. More washing up of all the buckets that have been used.

6pm - Evening feeds for the animals up on the hill. This includes bottle feeding the moose, cleaning out and feeding the bears, and feeding Igor and Helena, the cougar. Back in the kitchen the buckets we just used now need to be washed up.

7pm - Dinner :D

8pm -  Back downstairs to put extra straw in to the guinea pig hutch to keep them warm as it is going below zero degrees every night now. Extra hay needs to be put in each rabbit hutch and all the water bottles from each cage need to be removed so they don't freeze and burst. One final sweep and clean of the kitchen to ensure it is ready for the next morning.

9pm - If all the animals are fed and everything is clean we can finish the day and spend the rest of the evening just relaxing before bed.

This is just an overview of what a typical day is like. However typical days here aren't always a common occurrence and if we plan to do something often the schedule has changed completely by lunchtime. Adaptability is an extremely important trait to have when working at a shelter. For instance next weekend we are going to a crafts fair in Kitimat, so any spare time at the moment is spent making 'shelter charms' out of horseshoes, beads and wire to sell to raise funds. Animals could also come in at any time and we could be sent out to a rescue as soon as a call comes in. Some days around here can be very hectic, while some can be eerily calm. Autumn and Winter are also the quieter months at the shelter. With Spring comes a lot of baby animals that need constant care and attention, and in Summer the bears are released so we drive all over B.C doing that. Some days can feel long and the work can get repetitive, however the days where I get to work closely with the bears or bottle feed the moose and the inevitable day when I get to see the animals I have been caring for return to the wild, more than make up for those less than exciting days.