LEAVENWORTH, Wash. (AP) — A Washington state bear specialist says a McCall, Idaho, wildlife shelter has agreed to take two 8-month-old orphan black bear cubs for the winter. Rich Beausoleil of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife says the Snowdon Wildlife Sanctuary will keep the cubs until spring, when the Washington agency will retrieve them and release them back into the wild once other bears begin to emerge from their dens in northcentral Washington.
Last Friday, state officials worried the cubs might have to be euthanized after two other rehabilitation facilities said they were full. The cubs are too young to survive the winter on their own.
The Leavenworth-area man who killed their mother last Friday was not cited. But Beausoleil says the shooting was avoidable because bird seed and pet food attracted the bears to the property.
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Information from: The Wenatchee World, http://www.wenatcheeworld.com
