Orphaned black bear cub rescued, taken on 900-kilometre journey in B.C.

A baby bear cub was rescued on March 23rd near Kamloops, B.C. Photo courtesy of Northern Lights Wildlife Society

A tiny bear cub is in safe hands, after being found alone and unresponsive in the B.C. Interior earlier this week.

The cub, now affectionately named Jelly, was recovered by rescuers from Northern Lights Wildlife Society near Heffley Lake, around 40 kilometres northeast of Kamloops.

How he came to be orphaned is unknown.

“He’s too little and not co-ordinated enough to have been following his mom,” says Angelika Langen, the founder of NLWS. “We can speculate for a long time but we just won’t know.”

Langen believes the cub’s den could have been flooded by snowmelt, or something could have happened to his mother, but knows the cub is too small to have left his den on his own.

The first leg of the tiny cub’s day-and-a-half long journey involved bringing him to BC Wildlife Park in Kamloops, where he was warmed up in an incubator and given something to eat.

From Kamloops, volunteers drove him just over 400 kilometres to Quesnel where he was provided with extra milk, before setting off for the rescue society in Smithers, another 486 kilometres away.

Jelly finally arrived at his destination around 4 p.m. on Tuesday, and is settling in well.

Jelly is around six to seven weeks old, and weighs approximately 14 kilograms.

He needs to be fed specialized bear milk every four hours, and also needs to be given belly rubs to stimulate elimination.

Langen says it varies how many black bear cubs are rescued every year, but that it’s usually in the dozens.

“In 2023, we had over 100 so that was the worst we ever had, but the average is about 50 to 60,” said Langen.

Northern Lights fully expects Jelly to be safely released back into the wild once he’s ready.