Bear with Me | Video Documentaries |Axisoflogic.com

[Editor's Commentary: This speaks to me because of the years I've spent rescuing and rehabilitating injured and orphaned wildlife. My friend, Mike McIntosh, operates Bear With Us in northern Ontario, Canada. Mike and I both serve as Directors of Ontario Wildlife Rescue. He works solely with bears, no other animals. To the best of my knowledge, the only other facility in Ontario that services bears is Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary (I'm a former President of AVWS).

Mike learned about bears while a volunteer at AVWS and they became his passion. While with AVWS, Mike worked with a now-retired General Manager who was flown to Russia to provide input, knowledge, and guidance into the practices of Russia's Orphan Bear Rescue Centre.

Don't ever ask Mike to show you his bears - no one but he and his wife (and our veterinarian friend Sherri) goes near these animals because the whole goal is to NOT let them get used to being around humans. They should fear us because we are far more dangerous to them than they are to us.

[- prh, ed.]

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When human activity causes bear cubs to be separated from, or abandoned by their mothers, they have no chance of surviving unless people intervene. Russia's Orphan Bear Rescue Centre has been established to save and nurture orphaned bear cubs. The centre is a part of a larger organisation – the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) that rescues and protects animals worldwide.

The OBRC was started as an experiment by a couple of biologists, Valentin and Svetlana Pazhetnov, in the mid-nineties and has developed into an internationally-recognised centre that is now run by three generations of the Pazhetnov family. In the years that the centre has existed, its specialists have developed and perfected a method that allows cubs to stay wild. Even though they are raised by people, the techniques employed at the centre mean bears do not become domesticated or comfortable around humans.

At first, bear cubs require around the clock care, and it’s very important that the centre specialists avoid bonding with them. As soon as baby bears are old enough, they are transferred to a large natural enclosure where they are able to learn about the forest in a safe environment. They develop and acquire new skills in the same way that bears mature in the wild. Cubs socialise with each other and explore their surroundings, while their human carers take a step back, becoming as inconspicuous as possible. The process of preparing a cub to be released back into the wild is a gradual one, and the time it takes varies from bear to bear.

To date, over 200 bears have been rehabilitated and returned to the wild by the Rescue center. The centre is now considered a world leader in bear rehabilitation, and its successful techniques are being adopted by bear rehabilitation projects around the world.