Last Bear Cub in Family of Four Finally Found in Gatlinburg After Long Search
The Gatlinburghers is the name given to a family of cubs whose mother was euthanized a month ago. This was a result of an incident where she scratched a human after rummaging through an unsecured trash can at a hotel in Gatlinburg. Unfortunately, that left the cubs on their own, so the Appalachian Bear Rescue went to work in rescuing the young animals. The 3 cubs initially found were named Patty, Pickles, and Mac, so it only made sense to name the fourth one “Special Sauce.”
The search was frought with many late nights gathering information and leads from concerned citizens. As one might expect, finding a bear cub here is like finding a needle in a haystack, but the persistence paid off. The cub had been identified as having a white marking on her chest, and when the bear was sighted, she had also gotten into some white paint as a stroke of good fortune, so to speak.
Special Sauce had been pesky and elusive for weeks, but when she was seen in a tree by a hotel manager not far from the cubs were orphaned, the final trap was set for her recovery. No, this was not an inhumane capture; in fact, I think we should all understand the allure of donut pieces and cake crumbs. The bear had given in, and all willpower fell by the wayside, as she came down to get her fill. No word on whether the scraps were from The Donut Friar or Mad Dog’s. If those were the crumbs, she didn’t stand a chance of denying those temptations.
In all seriousness, as a precaution, the young cub was sent to the UT College of Veterinary Medicine where she was treated for mild dehydration. They also worked at removing the paint from her fur. At this time, she and her siblings are being cared for by the Appalachian Bear Rescue. Soon, she will be officially reunited with her siblings in one of the enclosures. The ABR currently have a total of 25 cubs under their watch.
Appalachian Bear Rescue is a black bear rescue facility located in beautiful Townsend, Tennessee. They are a non-profit organization that has been giving a home to cubs since 1996. Thanks to the ABR, injured and orphaned young bears are given the care they need before they are fit to be released back into the wild, giving them a second chance to thrive in their Smoky Mountain home.
This is such good news to hear. It made all the local news here a month ago. It was such a sad situation seeing cubs left without a mother because of bad decisions, apathy, and ignorance from humans. Stay tuned next week as I plan to attend an open house to get an update on what the City of Gatlinburg is doing to further the efforts to keep us all BearWise and save these creatures from an unnecessary demise.
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Yes it’s very sad when most of those cubs had to be rescued because they lost their mother due to human error. It’s unreal to see how many cubs they have now.