“We would think that a bear of that size would be stolen by a predator,” said Arizona Game and Fish spokesman Mark Hart
A bear cub was recently found in a residential area of Tucson, AZ – and the public can officially meet it!
Bearizona Wildlife Park employees named Buddy after the main character from Dwarf, he was treated by a veterinary examination at the Bearizona Wildlife Park. He was also welcomed in the park, where he lives in a separate area protected from quarantine.
Bearizona Wildlife Park announced that starting Friday, visitors can meet the young cub in its safe area.
Last week, Buddy was found weighing just 15 pounds, leaving staff to wonder how the bear survived alone in the wild.
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Bearizona Wildlife Park’s official Instagram account shared Buddy’s story on Tuesday. In the headline, the Wildlife Park quoted Mark Hart — a spokesman for Arizona Game and Fish — as saying the bear weighed a shockingly low weight.
“A 15-kilogram bear should be about four or five months old. The math doesn’t work out,” Hart said.
The account reported that cubs in the US are usually born early in the year. Dave O’Connell, the park’s chief operating officer, added that cubs between the ages of 10 months and 1 year should weigh about 70 pounds.
Buddy the bear.
Bearizona Wildlife Park/Instagram
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While the bear’s weight remained a secret to Bearizona Wildlife Park staff, they also shared their confusion about the location of the cub’s mother. They began to speculate whether Buddy had been abandoned or had abandoned his mother. Hart also asked how Buddy made it down the Catalina Mountains into the residential area.
“We would think that a bear of that size would be stolen by a predator. A coyote, a mountain lion or even another bear,” Hart shared.
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In addition, O’Connell said the cub was unusually comfortable with people. He speculates that the bear – which is healthy – may have been “illegally fed” by a human. “That might explain his comfort in human company,” O’Connell said. “That might also explain why it’s so small.”
The park shared that Buddy the cub was not euthanized because of his unusual comfort and fearless demeanor around people. However, Buddy’s situation is a rare exception and usually this can happen to a bear in his situation.
O’Connell repeatedly shared with the public that even though Buddy was small, they must remember that “a fed bear is a dead bear” and “if you care, leave him there.”
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Source: HIS Education