Jean Cumings gives Lucky a bottle - 2007Lucky, as he was named by visitors, has been a major delight at the Bear Center since day one. He came into our lives July 6, 2007. The day before, a rehabilitator in Wisconsin had called to tell me he was under orders to euthanize a 20-pound male cub if we couldn’t take him. The rehabilitator believed the cub had been taken from the wild, raised by people, and then released back to the wild when he became too much of a handful. A landowner then brought him to the rehabilitator because the cub came into his yard and seemed tame.
Picking up Lucky - 2007I said we’d love to have him. At that time, I didn’t realize what a great addition Lucky would be. I told Bear Curator Donna Andrews and the staff about the opportunity. Jean Cumings, a Zoology Instructor from Coe Brown Academy in New Hampshire, agreed to take the lead in his care. She and her 19-year-old son Joel were volunteering that summer. They were thrilled. Raising a cub during their stay was beyond their dreams. Donna Andrews would document his growth with videos and photos.
Lucky's first bottle - 2007The next day, Jean and Joel set off to Wisconsin to drive Lucky back. Lucky was unhappy riding in his pet carrier, so they let him out to explore the car. Soon, he fell asleep on Joel’s lap. When he woke up, he wanted to play, making it hard for Jean to drive with Lucky gnawing at her hands. They put him back in his carrier.
Lucky was on his way to a new life.
Joel and Lucky - 2007Their first stop was at the WRI Research Center to talk about his care. I wondered how Lucky would respond to people. Jean, Joel, and Lucky arrived while Black Bear Field Course participants and I were eating around a big table. Jean took the pet carrier into the living room and let Lucky out to explore. We didn’t want to approach him too soon and scare him. Not to worry. Cute little Lucky quickly joined us at the dinner table amidst a chorus of oo’s and ah’s. He confidently climbed onto someone’s lap and from there onto the table and plates of food. He was on a mission, and anyone who tried to deter him was bitten…fast and hard. Defensive cubs don’t control the power of their bites like yearlings and older bears do. We somehow got him back into his pet carrier and on his way to the Bear Center.
Jean and Lucky - 2007There, the staff put him in a holding pen (the same pen where Lucky is denned this winter). That night, Donna Andrews slept on the other side of the fence. Lucky tried to escape but seemed comforted when Donna joined him. Everything turned out fine that night, but the next night, alone, he escaped. We realized he was out when someone spotted him 10-15 feet up the concrete wall, high above the door into the Bear Center. Was he looking for a way into the building where people are? Joel got a ladder and retrieved him.
Jean and Lucky - 2007Lucky needed a mother, and Jean Cumings became just that. The staff got a big kennel cage to house him inside the Bear Center among the visitors. Jean stayed near him by day and slept on a cot next to him at night, giving him loving care whenever he whimpered—much like Lily did in her den with Hope. Although Lucky had eaten solid food at the rehab center, he still had a need to suckle. He wanted a bottle like he likely got as a cub. Jean made a nutritious formula of milk, eggs, cream, vitamins, etc. She kept bottles ready to give whenever Lucky said the word. The staff filled in at times, but Jean was the main caregiver. Lucky relaxed with Jean, climbed onto her lap to nurse and sometimes slept there afterward as Jean gently stroked him. The mothering that came naturally to Jean was a lot like Lily and Jewel showed us in their dens. I worried about Lucky bonding so closely with someone who would be leaving in a month. We urged others to make a greater effort to fill in.
Lucky in cage inside Bear Center - 2007When the Bear Center was open, Lucky’s cage was the center of attraction. Jean and staff members answered visitors’ questions. Lucky got used to crowds and slept soundly with Bear Center visitors all around.
Lucky and Joel play in the theater - 2007When the Bear Center was closed, Jean, Joel, and others took Lucky on adventures. Sometimes it was just opening the cage and letting him run around in the Bear Center. Sometimes it was carrying Lucky in the pet carrier to an outside holding area where Lucky could romp with them. Another adventure was climbing the carpeted benches in the theatre. Lucky was at the age when wild cubs do a lot of climbing.
Tired Lucky in theater - 2007Shortly, I made everyone worry by saying it was time for Lucky to climb, forage, and play in natural forest habitat. It was time he explored the forested 2-acre enclosure and met Ted and Honey. Jean, Donna Andrews, and the staff cautiously devised a plan amidst talk of male bears eating cubs. They wanted to go slow. For a start, Jean and staff put Lucky’s kennel cage next to the fence to see Ted and Honey’s reactions. Ted and Honey were calm enough, but Lucky was terrified even though Jean was right next to him. It was a situation where a wild bear would flee up a tree. Next, they locked up Ted and Honey so Jean and Donna could take Lucky for a walk in the forested enclosure. Lucky practiced climbing tree after tree. Some, like spruces, had flaky bark. Birches and young aspens had smooth, slippery bark. His favorite was the big white pine. Its strong, furrowed bark made climbing safe and easy. Its massive branches were good for resting. Its dense crown provided shade.
Donna videos Lucky's intro to big bears - 2007Lucky remembered the big white pine during his first night in the enclosure with Ted and Honey on the loose. Jean spent the night, thinking Lucky would want company and get hungry. Lucky thought survival. He remembered the white pine. He climbed it and didn’t come down until Jean showed him a bottle at daybreak. We were impressed. We knew that mothers with cubs made 92% of their overnight beds at the bases of big white pines in the wild around here. Lucky instinctively chose a white pine probably without being taught. Night after night and often during the day, Lucky rested in the white pine.
Lucky playing in cage inside Bear CenterLucky grew and became more confident as he learned his surroundings and practiced climbing. He no longer squalled for company, but Jean frequently accompanied him anyway. Lucky learned the capabilities of Ted and Honey and seemed to know he could outrun and out-climb them. He typically foraged on the ground and spurted up a tree when one of them approached. Ted approached making friendly sounds. Honey actively chased Lucky up trees never coming close to catching him. Honey was also into bluff-charging people in those days. For Jean, that meant playing it safe by ending her walks with Lucky whenever Honey showed up.
In mid-August, Jean returned home to New Hampshire, leaving Joel and the staff to continue working with Lucky. I gave Lucky a bottle shortly after Jean left. I wondered if he missed her. Lucky let me know his feelings toward me as an interloper with an angry bite to my leg. I told him it wasn’t my fault Jean had to go. I called Jean and told her Lucky missed her.
Tomorrow, Part 2.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center