Gwaii Haanas

What an incredible, whirlwind few weeks I have had. I'm sorry for not posting anything sooner but I have been working 15 hour days for the past couple of weeks so once i'm back in my room, all I an think of doing if collapsing on my bed, certainly not writing a blog.

Our animal intake has increased, we now have 6 black bear cubs, 1 fawn, 11 ducks, 2 geese, 4 foxes, 1 grizzly bear cub and 2 beavers. Between all of that plus all the cleaning and maintenance I have been kept very busy.

The 2 beavers (named Willow and Aspen) are completely adorable. Due to B.C laws they can't be released back into the wild, so while we try to find a suitable zoo or sanctuary we get to tame them. Which really doesn't take much they are pretty friendly as it is, but it does mean that whenever I get some free time I can go and cuddle and play with them.

One of the highlights of the past week was that I got to release the final black bear of last year (Zippy) on Haida Gwaii. Haida Gwaii is an archipelago of islands off the north coast of B.C. It is informally known as The Queen Charlotte islands and has been described as 'The Galapagos of the North' due to the beautiful scenery, and the number of endemic species found on the islands. Zippy herself is a subspecies of black bear found only on these islands that are much larger than the mainland bears.

Haida Gwaii is mostly inhabited by the native Haida people. As I was driving around the islands it became very apparent that the islands are rich in culture. Native totem poles adorned the towns and local art can be found on everything from clothing to shower curtains to gas station signs. There is even a Haida language, Gwaii Haanas is the Haida name for Moresby island, the southern island which was our destination for Zippy's release. This may have been one of the more difficult release sites this year. A 4 hour drive followed by a 7 hour ferry, then another 30 minute ferry, then another 90 minute drive and we finally reached our destination on a mountainside, surrounded by coastal rainforest.

The ferry to the islands doesn't run on Sundays and as the only boat we could get out was Saturday morning we stayed on the island all weekend. Originally we had planned to sight see for most of Sunday however one of the guys who came on the release with us gave us an offer we couldn't really refuse. It turns out he flies a tiny 6 person float plane every week along with a government representative to do a fishing boat survey. It just so happened that this weeks flight fell on the Sunday we were there and he invited us to come along for the ride! I thought the 50 seat plane to Smithers was small but this plane looked like a toy. I almost didn't believe it would even fly, but soon enough we were flying all around the coast of the islands and up into the mountains. It was breathtaking! It looked like something from a fantasy movie and I even got to see some wild island bears from the window.

I arrived back at just after midnight Tuesday morning and got just a few hours sleep before I had to be up nice and early to prepare for the shelter's annual open house. Normally the shelter is closed to visitors, but one day each year (Canada Day) we open the doors and allow people to take a look around and see the animals. This year was the biggest yet, 1200 people showed up and we raised over $6000. I spent 8 hours with Brock the baby deer, answering questions and showing him off to everyone. It was a lot of fun and i'm glad that we had such a fantastic event.

I'm sorry that there are no photos in this post. I have lots I want to share but my internet connection seems to have taken a nosedive. I suspect it may have something to do with all the thunderstorms we've been having recently. If I manage to upload them at some point i'll make a comment in my next post saying so.

Animals everywhere

When they said that spring time at a wildlife shelter can get pretty busy, they really weren't kidding.

Our bear cub count is now up to six. Norman, Jo and Fisher have been joined by Artio, a black and brown cub from just down the road, who was found wandering around on a neighbour's driveway all alone. Maya, an extremely small and very quiet cub from Vanderhoof and a still unnamed male cub from Prince George. Feeding time is more than a bit chaotic right now as they are all on milk and will often try to steal milk from another bears bowl leading to a few scuffles each night.

Artio

Maya

We also got the first moose of the season in a few days ago from Prince George. She is very small, and at most only two or three days old. Conservation officers found her drowning in a ditch and we picked her up. She is drinking milk well and seems quite alert. However we discovered a large lump on her right side during our initial check up. Upon further inspection by a vet, we learnt that she has a very large abdominal hernia. It doesn't seem to be causing her any discomfort and the hole is quite large so the vet doesn't think she is at risk of any pinching of the guts. Surgery is an option, however there are risks. Moose are already extremely sensitive to sedation and with this moose being so young surgery isn't a guarantee of survival. The vet suggested that we could try to push the lump back in and wrap a tight bandage around her middle to hold it and hope that it heals by itself. In the meantime i'm having a great time bottle feeding, she needs to be fed every three hours, so we share the job between the three volunteers to ensure we at least get some sleep.

Just yesterday we picked up our first deer as well. A concerned neighbour had been watching it all afternoon and when no mum came back to it we were called to investigate. The deer is around 2 days old, very weak and has an infection in the right eye. He has been put on the same feeding schedule as the moose and we administered eye drops to try and clear the infection.

We also packed up five more bears to be released and as I write this the shelter owners are continuing their drive right to the BC/America border to release one of them. All the bears we rehab are released into the same region from where they came. There hasn't been much study into the genetics of black bears and we don't want to mix gene pools to be on the safe side. This does mean however that we have to drive thousands of miles each spring to take them back. In just a few weeks time I will be going to the Queen Charlotte islands to release our last bear from last year, Zippy. That is a five hour drive, followed by a seven hour ferry and another hour drive to reach.

What a truck, loaded with 5 bears, looks like

Born to be Wild

So before I get onto the really, really good news I should probably tell you all about the two new additions to the shelter.

A few days ago we got a call about two tiny cubs that had been seen alone in the Cranbrook area, which is right in the south of BC, near the US border. Someone went to check it out and they found the cubs in extremely bad shape. They were so small and weak that they could easily be picked up and put in a transport box with no fighting or anything. The female, Jo, weighed 5lbs and the male, Fisher weighed 6lbs. For comparison, Norman who is the same age and still a little underweight weighs 15lbs. They saw a vet as soon as possible and were deemed to be starving, dehydrated and if they hadn't have been found when they were, they most likely wouldn't have survived the night.

From there an intricate mission started to get them to the shelter. We first tried to arrange to get them on a flight straight to Smithers as this would be the quickest way to get them here. However it was a long weekend and the guy in charge who we needed to agree to transporting bears wouldn't be back in the office for another three days and that just wouldn't do. Driving to Cranbrook is a trip that could take anywhere between 15 and 20 hours so we put out a message asking for help and we got several people to drive the bears north so we could meet them in the middle.

It was a huge group effort and the bears are here now. They are eating, but it is clear they have a long way to go. They are severely underweight and I haven't heard one sound come from either of them, which is very unusual.

Jo (left) and Fisher (right) enjoying some milk.

In other (happier) bear news Norman is doing great, we had to move him out of his hospital pen to make room for Jo and Fisher. He protested a bit at first, refusing to drink his milk, instead opting to flip the bowl over and make a mess. He screamed and generally caused trouble until we dragged in a huge hollow log and that seemed to mellow him out a bit. He sits inside there for hours on end, quite content with his new home.

Norman, enjoying his new bed

Finally just a few days ago we released our first black bear, Berwyn. When he arrived at the shelter way back in October he weighed only 40lbs. Unfortunately he didn't gain enough weight to successfully hibernate through the winter, but he steadily grew and when we weighed him a few hours before release, he was up to 106lbs! We drove up into a provincial park, in the same region as where we found him. Along the way we saw two wild black bears, two moose and grizzly tracks, pretty good for a 2 hour drive. Then when it came to release we opened the box and he ran out, ready to explore and continue his life where he is meant to be - In the wild. It was a very emotional experience, having seen him come in as a tiny little bear, taking his little paw prints a few weeks after arriving. I took his paw prints again on release day and they are now as big as my hand. As he ran out of the box i'm not even ashamed to say that I was crying, happy tears of course, but crying all the same. I have suggested that a box of tissues become part of the release kit as i'm sure that i'll be crying on other releases I get to go on.

Bye Berwyn!