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| We, at Critter Care,
have always prided ourselves on being a fairly
practical bunch; not prone to many flights of
fancy. We see an injury – we provide first
aid; we see distress – we provide comfort;
we see an orphan – we provide a new family.
But last October, we admitted an orphaned black
bear cub. About 10 months old, markedly underweight
and fairly traumatized, it seemed like a pretty
straight-forward case. Trouble was, the moment
she arrived, our Caregivers had a sense that
there was something a little different here.
In fact, the name that instantly sprang to mind
for this little girl was “Spooks”. |
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| Spooks’ mother
had been struck by a car and was humanly euthanized
by the RCMP. Conservation Officers were immediately
called and arrived shortly there after at which
time they found nearby the mother’s now
orphaned cub. They immediately captured her
and took her to Critter Care. So Spooks was
alone when she arrived at Critter Care –
or so we thought – and we had no other
bears to place her with. Strangely, despite the fact she was on her
own, the little cub settled in very quickly.
Caregivers were surprised but pleased at her
progress and started to remark on how fast she
had adapted to living in the den they had prepared.
As they exchanged stories about the little bear,
however, it soon became clear that, on routine
daily checks, each of them had heard the young
bear making noises normally associated with
one bear relating to another. Caregivers also
reported experiencing an eerie feeling around
the enclosure whenever they dropped by to check
on her, especially just before dusk or just
after dawn. |
You might say that our Caregivers
were, indeed, getting very fanciful and that
their imagination was working overtime. Well,
truth to tell, so did they. That is until one
of the Caregivers decided to capture some photos
of the young bear in its enclosure. One of the
resulting pictures was enough to raise the hair
on the back of anyone’s neck. Quite clearly
in the picture, surrounding the entrance of
the den in that early morning light, is the
ghostly outline of the face of an adult bear!
A trick of light? A flaw on the film? An over-active
imagination? Or was it really momma bear reaching
out beyond the grave to watch over her own?
Who can say? Many inexplicable things happen
at Critter Care.
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All we know for
sure is that Spooks continues to thrive and
is due for release later this month. Soon she
will be back in the wild where she belongs.
With or without momma’s help, hers is
yet another success story for our native wildlife
and for Critter Care – and, if she had
a little supernatural help, who are we to question
it? Mavis Sutton, President
Critter Care Wildlife Society |
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