Injured bear cub gets a new home
On Friday, Idaho Fish and Game biologist Jeff Rohlman picked up the young bear at the Idaho Humane Society shelter in Boise where he has been recuperating from second degree burns on all four paws he suffered during the recent Mustang Fire north of Salmon.
Rohlman took the bear to the Snowdon Wildlife Sanctuary in the mountains outside McCall. The sanctuary is dedicated to the care and rehabilitation of injured and orphaned wildlife.
Since 1989, it has housed and cared for a range of large and small mammals and birds in distress from injury, loss of parents, or loss of habitat.
“Boo Boo” weighed about 46 pounds on Friday. He will spend the first night in a pen about the size of a single-car garage, which is attached to a two-acre enclosure at the sanctuary. When released from the pen, he would be free to roam the enclosure.
If he continues to mend, officials say, he would be released to wild. Perhaps as soon as later this fall.
He was rescued August 26 by firefighters working on the Mustang Fire. His feet were badly burned, and he was treated initially at Idaho Fish and Game's Wildlife Health Lab in Caldwell.
The young bear has continued to improve.
He weighed only 23 pounds when Fish and Game wildlife veterinarian Mark Drew transferred the bear to the Idaho Humane Society on August 31.
Fish and Game officials say there appeared to be no infection in any of his foot pads, despite second-degree burns on all four feet.
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