Workers The administration of the Veľká Fatra National Park has successfully adopted a small bear cub to a surrogate mother! This is the first confirmed case of successful adoption in Slovakia.
The bear has been moving abandoned around the urban area of the village of Belá – Dulice for several weeks. We assumed that it was only a temporary matter caused by the bear’s rut and the female would find the cub again after the end of the rut and take it away. However, such a scenario was not confirmed and the orphaned cub (bear) had to be captured. Employees of the Administration of the Veľká Fatra National Park caught her in the immediate vicinity of the urban area of the mentioned village after a telephone notification from local citizens. According to the citizens, she has been on the edge of the urban area for at least 3 weeks and has been seen climbing trees several times at the local cemetery.
After capture, the bear showed enormous viability. They defended and bite, which in the end was good, as there was no significant imprinting on a person. The condition of the cub of about 7 kg was surprisingly very good. The cub was able to receive solid food (grass, roots and various herbs) and did not suffer from diarrhea or catarrh.
After careful consideration of the whole situation, we decided to try to adopt to a surrogate mother.
The cub was captured and transported to another location in the Veľká Fatra on 4.6.2019. On the very first evening, she had contact with a female bear. But it was not until around three o’clock in the morning that we managed to record that the adoption was successful and the bear adopted the cub. We managed to document the whole process using camera traps and direct observation.
We are extremely happy that the adoption attempt was successful and the bear did not have to travel to one of the zoos, where a life in captivity would await it.
A big thank you goes to all those involved who participated in the adoption and capture in any way.
Namely: Ľudovít Remeník, Július Schestág, Juraj Žiak and Branislav Šebo.
A place where a bear cub was captured on the outskirts of the village of Belá Dulice.
Camera shots and photo traps. The next morning, June 5, 2019, shortly after 3:00 a.m. definitively confirmed that he was adopted by his adoptive mother.
Text: Ing. Juraj Žiak
Photo: Ing. Július Schestág
