Triplets  arrive at  Northern Lights Wildlife Shelter – image courtesy Northern Lights Wildlife Shelter

Smithers, B.C.- The Northern Lights Wildlife Shelter in Smithers is at capacity with bear cubs  and  is looking for donations to help  feed the little ones.

The  shelter  has just picked up a trio of orphaned cubs ,  adding to the 13 already in the shelter’s care.

Shelter manager Angelika Langen got the call on from a Smithers Conservation Officer that up to three cubs had been spotted near Chapman Lake.  They had been wandering for several days, with no mother in sight.

Langen and her husband, Peter, drove out to set traps. They found two on the first try and they were very accommodating, entering the trap within hours. “A sure sign of their level of Hunger” Langen states.  Search for a third cub was unsuccessful, but as they pulled out of the side road the third cub was spotted about 500meters down the road.  Traps were set and the next morning Peter Langen reported that number 3 was ready to join its siblings.

“We usually have one or two bears this age at this time of year, and now we have 16,” said Langen.  Cubs are sent to rehab after Conservation Officers determine they meet rehab criteria.

“We’ve never, ever had so many bears at such a young age.”

The Langen’s run a busy mammal rehabilitation center in Smithers B.C., and are funded entirely by donations. Each cub in their care currently guzzles more than $50 a week in bear milk formula, and that number will only rise as the cubs grow, totaling thousands of dollars each month (current estimates are $6400 until weaning). Cubs will be weaned in August, but until then milk is needed to ensure proper growth.  Budget estimates where centered on the possibility of 3-4 cubs but now that number quadrupled explains Langen.

The cubs are released when they are 16 months old, and would naturally leave their mothers to provide best survival conditions.

To donate toward the bear cubs’ milk costs, visit www.wildlifeshelter.com.