Three Orphaned Montana Grizzly Bear Cubs Head to Zoo in Quebec
They’ve been dubbed Larry, Moe and Curly and they’re at least as rambunctious as the originals, but they’re actually three orphaned Montana grizzly bear cubs, and they’re headed to their new home in Montreal, Quebec.
Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks spokesman Greg Lemon said the cubs were found near Lincoln, Montana in June after their mother had been struck by a car and killed.
“We were able to trap the cubs and bring them to Montana Wild in Helena,” said Lemon. “We don’t have a capture rehab and release facility for grizzly bear cubs in Montana, and once we trapped them our only choice was to find them a permanent placement in an appropriate facility like a zoo, or to euthanize them.”
Stuart Strahl of the Chicago Zoological Society called the Zoo Sauvage de Saint-Felicien in Quebec, and they were able to provide a home for all three of the orphaned cubs.
Lemon said the cubs were barely twenty pounds when they were orphaned, but after a few weeks at Montana Wild, they were much bigger.
“Cubs grow fast, and it’s important for their survival that they so in that first year,” he said. “They came to us at between 20 and 25 pounds, and they weigh more than twice that today, at around 50 pounds.”
The bears are headed to Quebec via ground transportation due to the logistical and technical problems of shipping them via air.
“It’s something we’ve done quite a bit with bears, so we have lots of experience taking them via ground transportation,” he said.
The Quebec zoo is building an entire exhibit to house the three orphaned Montana bears, to teach visitors about grizzlies.