RAMONA, CA — Two orphaned bear cubs at the Ramona Wildlife Center got a delicious taste of fall this week thanks to some good neighbors, officials say.
A local family nurtured the pumpkin to its current weight until it stopped growing in September. They then trucked it where it could get some good use by animals at the Ramona Wildlife Center.
The enormous fruit was then relocated by backhoe into the cub’s enclosure.
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The project wildlife team maneuvered the enormous pumpkin into the bear enclosure.
The donation was perfect for the young bears, according to Nina Thompson of the San Diego Humane Society. The cubs use it as a toy, a snack, and to increase their experiences as they grow up.
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The cubs had no trouble figuring out that whatever the enormous thing was, it was tasty and fun to climb on.
Thompson considers the pumpkin a fall-themed enrichment for the two bear cubs.
The bears, now approximately nine months old, were rescued from the San Bernardino Mountains in July. They were found by their deceased mother and needed care to ensure their survival, according to Thompson. Project wildlife workers and San Diego Humane Society’s Ramona Wildlife Center workers have raised them as they become juveniles.
The bear cubs will remain at the center until they can return to the wild sometime next year. It may take them that long to devour the pumpkin treat.
For now, the cubs are checking out the enormous treat, using it as a climbing rock and figuring out how to get inside the fall-flavored center. Learn more about the center at www.sdhumane.org.
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