Appalachian Bear Rescue: Three bear cubs rescued after mother hit by a car, paralyzed

TOWNSEND, Tenn. (WATE) — Monday was a rare day for Appalachian Bear Rescue after four bear cubs arrived on the same day. Three of the cubs were saved after their mother was hit by a car and the other was found alone eating from a cherry tree.

ABR shared that on Saturday morning, they received a message from a Unicoi County family after they caught video of a mother bear and three cubs traveling through their yard. The mother was severely injured and APR said she was dragging her back legs as she moved. ABR contacted the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency , which set a trap for the injured bear.

“It can be very difficult to capture an injured bear, and safely capturing her AND her three cubs would be a huge challenge,” wrote ABR.

The bear entered the trap about 24 hours later and then TWRA Sergeant David Carpenter worked to capture the cubs. By Monday morning the cubs were ready to come to ABR for care.

“Unfortunately, TWRA had to humanely euthanize the mother bear. After further examination, it appeared that she had been hit by a car and was paralyzed,” added ABR.

While this was happening, another bear cub was trapped in the Sevierville area after being found alone. ABR said this story began over a week ago when neighbors in Sevierville reported a small cub high in a cherry tree eating ripe cherries.

“At first glance, we thought ‘lucky little bear!’ Every cub deserves a cherry tree full of cherries! But the cub was always seen alone. By Thursday, it was time for Curators Haley, Jamie and Greg to set up a cub trap and install the trail camera. Our trail cameras have cellular service that sends us photos of activity around the trap. Every time a photo came in, we looked at our phones. Even late at night, it’s important to check,” wrote ABR.

It was as the three cubs were undergoing their intake exams, that the trail cam in Sevierville started sending photos of the bear cub around the trap under the cherry tree.

“The cubby went into the trap, and the trail cam snapped the photo we needed. Fortunately, TWRA Biologist Dan Gibbs was in the Gatlinburg area and headed straight to pick up the cub and deliver her to the ABR facility. Curator Jamie had just returned from UTCVM with the triplets and it was time to head back to Knoxville with a fourth little bear,” ABR wrote.

ABR said that all four cubs appear to be healthy, however, they are quite small. The triplets are sharing Hartley House rooms 1 and 2:

• Homer Bear is male and weighs 11 pounds
• Diamond Bear is female and weighs 7.7 pounds
• Champ Bear is female and weighs 12.1 pounds

While the cherry tree cub is in the ABR Recovery Center:

• Sundae Bear is female and weighs 12.1 pounds

ABR said that it was a very exciting day to welcome the new bear cubs and watch the Tennessee Baseball team win the College World Series . The win helped inspire the triplets’ baseball-related names, while Sundae Bear’s love of cherry led to her name.

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