Black Bear Rescue Manitoba

12/03/2025

Baby steps, literally. Practice made perfect.

12/02/2025

Today is a great day to help our cubs…..it’s Giving Tuesday, the largest generosity movement in the world! As a registered charity that receives no government funding we’re very grateful for any and all support. You can help from anywhere in the world and all the various ways are here; www.blackbearrescuemanitoba.com/donate

Cubs like sisters Xyla, Xiba & Xola thank you very much for helping them! 💚

11/29/2025

🐻 The Black Bear: I Am Not a Thief. I Am Just Hungry and My Forest Is Gone.

The Misunderstood Giant: Driven by Desperation, Not Delinquency
The American Black Bear (Ursus americanus) is an iconic symbol of North American wilderness. These magnificent omnivores are naturally shy and prefer to avoid humans. However, as human settlements expand deeper into their traditional territories, the lines between "wild" and "human" blur, leading to tragic encounters.

When a bear appears in a residential area, overturning garbage cans or breaking into sheds, it is often labeled as a "problem bear" or a "thief." But this behavior is not malice; it's a symptom of a much larger problem.

The Truth Behind the Scavenging: A Lost Home, a Gnawing Hunger
The powerful text directly addresses the bear's plight:

"I am not a thief. I am just hungry and my forest is gone."

Lost Habitat: This is the root cause. As development, logging, and agriculture replace forests, the bear's natural food sources (berries, nuts, roots, insects, small mammals) diminish or disappear entirely. Bears are forced to venture further, often into human areas, in search of sustenance.

The Allure of Easy Food: Our garbage, pet food, bird feeders, and unpicked fruit trees become irresistible attractants—high-calorie, easily accessible food sources that bears, driven by powerful instincts to survive, cannot ignore. They are not choosing to raid; they are choosing to live.

Human Responsibility: We create the problem by removing their natural food and then providing tempting, unnatural alternatives. This leads to bears becoming habituated to human food, which can ultimately lead to dangerous encounters and, tragically, the bear being euthanized.

💔 The Cycle of Conflict: A Tragedy of Displacement
The image of the bear rummaging for food in a garbage can is a visual metaphor for displacement and desperation. It highlights:

The Vanishing Wild: The gradual erosion of wilderness areas that once supported thriving bear populations.

The Price of Our Convenience: Our lifestyle choices (improper garbage disposal, leaving food accessible) inadvertently train bears to become "nuisance" animals, putting both bears and humans at risk.

🤝 Our Duty: Coexist with Respect and Responsibility
Living near bear country requires conscious effort and responsibility:

Secure Food Sources: Use bear-proof garbage cans, bring pet food indoors, remove bird feeders during bear season, and pick ripe fruit from trees.

Educate & Advocate: Learn about bear behavior and support conservation efforts that protect their habitat and promote coexistence.

Respect Their Space: If you encounter a bear, keep your distance and never approach or feed it.

The Black Bear foraging in a dumpster isn't a criminal; it's a victim of circumstance, a powerful reminder that our expansion comes with a profound cost. Let's remember their hunger and their lost forest, and act with the respect and responsibility they deserve.

11/26/2025

A Portrait of Winston as a Young Bear.

11/25/2025

Deadline is approaching! Thank you and good luck to everyone in Manitoba who purchased tickets, and for choosing to support our cubs!

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11/19/2025

While this isn’t as big an issue here due to our lower human population density, it’s an interesting read with some good tips. 👍

As the weather gets colder every day, make sure your house doesn't become a den for an opportunistic bear. With more land being developed, it's not unusual for a bear to seek refuge for the winter in a crawl space, under a brush pile or any other debris you may have around your backyard.

Did you know bears don't have collarbones? So even an adult bear can manage to squeeze themselves into tight spaces. If its head can fit, there's a good chance the rest of the body can follow.

If you're in bear country, whether it be full time or a summer home, check out this article for tips to keep your space from becoming a bear's comfy winter den. https://bearwise.org/will-bears-find-a-good-winter-den-at-your-place/?mc_cid=43113b2948&mc_eid=751a9817bf

Photo: Bearwise.org

11/19/2025

A post from 2 years ago, for you on this Winston Wednesday.

11/13/2025

One of the many possible colours of the black bear species.

DID YOU KNOW?... 💙 THE INCREDIBLY UNIQUELY BEAUTIFUL 'GLACIER BEAR'.. "The 'glacier bear' sometimes referred to as the 'blue bear' is a subspecies of the American black bear with silver-blue or gray hair endemic of Sourheast Alaska, to the extreme Northwestern tip of British Columbia and to the extreme Southwest of the Yukon." 💜🤎

📷 Lance Nesbitt
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100013737458886

11/12/2025

Hello on this Winston Wednesday!

11/12/2025

Our newest little guy who arrived yesterday (the “X” cub…..we name alphabetically, so received V, W, X this past week).

He arrived very tired after the stressful time of being on his own and has been sound asleep on this straw pile, not even waking when I turn the light on and approach his enclosure to check on him, preferring that corner over his den house which he hasn’t gone into yet. But he does wake up as soon as he smells his supper, enjoying the frequent small feedings he’s getting while his digestion settles in.
~Judy

11/12/2025

A nice dinner tonight for good cubs……which means all 3 of them will be getting it. 👍 (Everyone is doing well!).

11/11/2025

I’ve not had a chance to update you on the 2 cubs we received in the past few days…….and another one arrived today!

This small male cub weighing 27 lbs is from Pine Falls, MB and has been on his own for at least a week, caught today in a crab apple tree by Natural Resources staff. Fate of his mother or any siblings is not known.

He’s very shy but did come out of hiding to have some blueberries and peaches. Updates to come.

~Judy