The process of knocking out a bear

We have a new arrival at the shelter in the form of a teeny, tiny, 39 lb bear we named Trouble after all the hassle she gave the conservation officer trying to catch her. He was out in the field for four hours trying to get her but she kept evading. This brings the total number of bears here up to seven now. Three boys: Bennie, Rascal and Berwyn, and four girls, Shawn, Pumpkin, Polaris and Trouble.

Whenever  we get a new bear they are first put into a separate enclosure from the main group. This is to quarantine them, in case they have any infections or diseases that they could pass onto the others. After a few weeks of quarantine, if they are healthy enough they will be moved into the large enclosure with the other bears. First though we have to do an overall check on the bear, take measurements and do a few other things before they are ready to be moved, and to do all this the bear has to be knocked out.

Angelika will prepare the correct amount of tranquilizer and administer it to the bear, while a volunteer will keep track of the time. The tranquilizer can take around 15-20 minutes to take effect so timekeeping is very important. Once the bear is out they will be carried to the entrance and placed into a net and weighed. Bennie, the first bear to arrive here weighed in at over 70lbs when I did this, so carrying him required a lot of strength and some help. The bear is then moved over to a work table and it is a big group effort to get everything done before the bear starts to wake. Angelika will administer eye drops, de-worm the bear, clean the government ear tag and give the bear a shelter ear tag. Meanwhile Kim (another volunteer) and I clean the paws and take paw prints, using paint. I have discovered that I have a real talent for getting pretty paw prints, so I really enjoy doing this. We then take fur for DNA as well as some to use during fundraisers. We bottle some fur and turn some into necklaces, which always raise a lot of money. Finally the bear is micro-chipped so there is another form of identification incase the bear loses the ear tag, then they are put back into the main enclosure if they are of a healthy enough weight. Someone has to keep watch over them while they re-awake from the tranquilizer as the other bears, curious as they are, might come over and start hassling the drowsy bear, especially if they are smaller.

The whole process can go very quickly and everyone is doing something, whether recording or working on the actual bear, it can be quite stressful with so many people around so we try and do this in groups, working on the bears one after the other to minimise the amount of times we go up to the pen. Just before release we will do this all over again to ensure they are healthy enough to be released, only this time it will require many more people as the bears should hopefully weigh over 100lbs.

Matters of the heart

Why wildlife rehabilitation? Wildlife rehabilitation is a job that I know many people would love to do. The idea of spending each day working with cute little animals is very appealing to people who don't realise the whole ton of different, confusing and somewhat conflicting emotions that come alongside working with wild animals. Emotions ranging from joy and elation when you see a healthy animal released back into the wild, to sadness and despair when an animal you have been caring for doesn't make it.

Many think that my job involves cuddling baby animals each day and getting to feed and watch them grow up. Honestly, it involves more cleaning cages, picking up poop and chopping endless amounts of apples. But I don't care, I honestly can say that I love my job, and the reason why I love it so much? Simple, I love animals. Wildlife rehabilitation is very much a profession lead by the heart. People with big hearts who just want to help what matters most to them. The late Stephen J Gould summarised this perfectly when he said "We cannot win this battle to save species and environments without forging an emotional bond between ourselves and nature as well - for we will not fight to save what we do not love."

This is one of the main reasons why I am completely in favour of zoos. There has been a lot of controversy surrounding zoos. Many people say it is cruel to keep animals locked up, they say the animals aren't happy at the zoos. I agree that some zoos are not fit to support animals. Some zoos keep animals in enclosures that are simply too small for the species within them. This I do not agree with. However when done correctly I firmly believe that zoos play an important role in the conservation of species across the globe. I know that I personally wouldn't have the love for animals that I do now, and the desire to protect them, if my parents hadn't taken me to zoos and wildlife parks when I was a child. Zoos also offer a refuge for some of the world's most endangered species. Many zoos now have breeding programs and re-introduction programmes to release animals back into the wild. So I can understand that some people firmly oppose the keeping of animals in enclosures, but I personally see the benefits that zoos have to offer.

The difference between travel and tourism

The shelter has fallen into a bit of a lull again, this isn't surprising as Autumn and Winter are the quieter months for the shelter. The four bears currently here are all settling in well and have been moved into the same pen, they have also been named. The single bear is now Bennie while the triplets are Pumpkin, Rascal and Shawn. Only Shawn turned out to actually be a girl, we've kept the name however as Angelika's son-in-law is also called Shawn and we find it quite hilarious that his namesake turned out to be a shy, female bear. The two moose are growing at an alarming rate, I have to stand on tip toes to give them their bottles now. The cats are doing well and Cricket the owl is as demonic as ever so everything is normal and work continues at a steady rate. With this in mind coming up with a topic to write about has been quite difficult and I turned to the conversations I have had with the other people here for inspiration and quite conveniently I was presented with the perfect topic earlier on in the week.

I was asked this week if I have travelled a lot in my life. I had to really think about my answer to this question as in a technical sense, yes I have been to a fair few countries, mostly in Europe, but also to Africa and now Canada. However I went to a lot of these countries as a tourist and to me personally there is a huge difference between travel and tourism. My definition of tourism is going to a place or country to see the tourist sights, to do the touristy things that everyone does when visiting that particular country. Travel is going to a destination to see the country for what it is. For example going to Paris to see the Eiffel tower - Tourist. Going to Paris to explore the city and find those hidden little gems of places - traveller. There is often a lot of crossover and don't get me wrong I very much enjoy being a tourist, when it's something new and different, but my real passion is travel. I want to see and experience the world. I want to see the beauty that each country has to offer. Beauty that comes in many different forms. In nature, in buildings, in people and in the history of the destination. I want adventures that only come from going off the beaten path. So to answer the original question, have I travelled a lot in my life? Not yet. But ask me again in twenty years time and I am sure that answer will have changed.