Bear Release March, 2021

Last week, the DNR came, as they always do in late Winter, to collect our bears.  Eight out of the nine bears have been at Wild and Free since March of 2020.  They were very small – most of them weighing around 5-7 pounds.  Our wonderful volunteers fed and cared for these bears until late November when they were fat enough to hibernate.  NOTE:  Bears can lose up to 30% of their body weight while in hibernation.  The ninth bear was able to escape before the DNR could catch him and is currently hanging out way up in the trees in his pen.  I’m sure he’s wondering where all his pals went!

Two more bears arrived in late Fall, both starved and very thin.  The volunteers continued to feed them all winter and they, too, thrived in their care.  These two ended up weighing 95 pounds each!

The DNR sedated the bears, weighed them and tagged them.  These bears weighed between 131 pounds and 79 pounds.  They were then moved into bear traps in the back of the DNR truck and relocated to a remote area in northern Minnesota. 

All photos by Jim Lease