Appalachian Bear Rescue

11/23/2025

ABR Daily Update-November 23, 2025-Happy Sunday

Weather: 58°F (14.4°C) Humidity 51%, Clear 🌙

Happy Sunday from everyone at ABR! We hope you had a very restful weekend. Don’t forget to check out ABR’s gift guide for all of your holiday shopping needs. We will announce Black Friday Sales early this week! Stay tuned. 👀🐻💸🛍️

She wakes up...slowly.

11/22/2025

ABR Daily Update-November 22, 2025-Behind the Scenes on Cub Birthday🐻🎂

Weather: 64°F (17.8°C) Humidity 68%, Mostly Cloudy🌥️

Appalachian Bear Rescue has always celebrated Cub Birthday the 22nd of every month. This is because January 22nd falls roughly midway between the range of possible birthdates for wild black bear cubs in their dens. Today, cubs of the year are approximately ten months old and yearling bears will soon turn two. Life in the wild is difficult and every month is worth celebrating!

Today we celebrated with Girl Scout Troop #20065 from Maryville, Tennessee. Curators welcomed the troop to the Trillium Cove Visitor and Education Center where they learned all about black bears in the Smokies. Then they made their way over to the actual bear care facility to see where the action happens. The girls explored the Cub Nursery, the Hartley House and even some of the climbing structures out in Wild Enclosure 1 (it turns out that some of the enrichment we use for bear cubs can double as enrichment for Girl Scouts 🤭). A big thank you to this wonderful troop for paying us a visit and learning more about how to safely live alongside our Tennessee black bears! The future is bright with kiddos that care!! 😄

11/21/2025

ABR Daily Update-November 21, 2025-Bears in Japan🐻🇯🇵

Weather: 68F (20C) Humidity 79%, Raining🌧️

Back in October, Appalachian Bear Rescue attended the 7th International Human-Bear Conflicts workshop in Kalispell, Montana. Not only does ABR serve on the planning committee for the workshop, but we have been a fiscal sponsor of this event since it was held in Gatlinburg in 2018. This year, over 350 bear professionals from 20 different countries came together to collaborate and share solutions to eerily similar circumstances that surround human-bear conflicts on a global scale.

You may have seen Japan in the American news lately as it pertains to their bear populations. The U.S. Embassy even going as far as issuing travel warnings to Americans visiting Japan after 13 recorded fatal attacks have taken place in 2025 alone. Japanese wildlife managers and media personnel also attended the workshop last month. The media outlet, NHK World- Japan, is the sole public media broadcast found in the country. They recently published a segment from their time spent in Montana. You can view that below.

Don’t forget to get your holiday shopping done early and check out our online store! We hope you have a great weekend. 😃

Police have started bear culling operations in northern Japan following a surge in attacks. But could authorities be handling the situation better? A trip to...

11/20/2025

ABR Daily Update-November 20, 2025-Chickens and Bears🐔

Weather: 63F (17C) Humidity 88%, Raining 🌧️

Today the ABR team took to the road to help a Townsend local install electric fencing around her chicken run and coop. Unfortunately, a very persistent black bear broke in and killed 25 of her chickens. Understandably upset by this, the homeowner contacted Appalachian Bear Rescue in need of a temporary fix that would safely keep her remaining chickens, geese and ducks protected.

This local has lived on her property in Townsend, Tennessee for twelve years and is very accustomed to seeing bears pass by her home. However, this was the first time that a bear has been able to successfully get to her flock. The current chicken coop is built very well and protected by a perimeter fence. However, it seems that this bear found a way in through the coop’s small vent opening. Bears can fit into amazingly small spaces. A good rule of thumb is; if their head can fit, they can fit.

We are grateful to the woman for reaching out and seeking proactive solutions to coexist. Our hearts also go out to her for her great loss. 😞 She is already making plans to implement a permanent electric fencing system that will protect her flock, her property and the local black bears. You can read more about black bears and chickens at https://bearwise.org/keep-bears-out/raising-chickens-in-bear-country/

11/19/2025

ABR Daily Update-November 19, 2025-ABR Holiday Gift Guide🎁

Weather: 71°F (21.7°C) Humidity 64%, Cloudy⛅️

Thank you for all of your support and encouragement on our latest infrastructure upgrades/boulder demolition. Our team is committed to this work because we truly believe in it – and we know you all do too. 🐻❤

There are only 36 days until Christmas!!! Don’t panic. Appalachian Bear Rescue has plenty to offer this holiday season. Whether you’re looking for the perfect gift for the kiddos in your life, or that one family member who feels impossible to shop for – we’ve got you covered. ABR’s holiday gift guide provides some of our top recommendations for this year’s gift shopping.

This year, we will also offer special Black Friday sales throughout the weekend of November 27th-30th. Be sure to keep an eye out for those. Find fulfillment in your holiday shopping by gifting unique, bear-related items to your loved ones all while knowing that you are giving directly back to real bear cubs in need. https://appalachian-bear-rescue.myshopify.com/

11/18/2025

ABR Daily Update-November 18, 2025-Infrastructure Update Pt. 2 🚜

Weather: 68°F (20°C) Humidity 42%, Cloudy ⛅️

Yesterday we explained the French drain installation that’s currently in progress at the bear care facility. This drain will direct any runoff coming from Wild Enclosures 1 & 2 to flow underneath Wild Enclosures 5 & 6 rather than across the surface. This by virtue, will also prevent runoff from coming into contact with any bears residing in 5 & 6. After the two pipeline ditches were excavated last week, our team moved to begin digging a hole for the 5’x5’ concrete basin that will catch runoff from Wild Enclosures 1 & 2.

Digging began…and shortly stopped.

Unfortunately, there was a giant boulder described by Curator Seth as, “roughly Land Rover size” DIRECTLY where the catch basin will need to go. Our team faced this boulder with the same conviction they have everything else over the past twelve months; the only way out is through! So, through they went!! Curator Seth and Josh from Rimel's Property Services worked into the night. It was dark. It was 35 degrees. It took two backhoes and roughly 2.5 hours to complete. But finally, piece by piece, the boulder was removed and the catch basin had a home.

The concrete basin and accompanying manhole are set to be delivered to ABR later this week or early next. In total, these pieces will weigh around 12,000 pounds! Thankfully, Josh has an excavator large enough to help us unload and place them into their respective spots. The catch basin will have a grated top to stop leaves and other larger solids from entering the drain and causing blockages. And the resulting surplus of rock material we accumulated from this unexpected endeavor will be crushed and used to line the pipeline that will run underneath of Wild Enclosures 5 & 6.

Thank you for being here with us. We do not take your support for granite (rock humor). ❤🪨

11/17/2025

ABR Daily Update-November 17, 2025-An Infrastructure Update🦺

Weather: 56°F (13°C) Humidity 33%, Sunny 🌞

As most everyone knows, Appalachian Bear Rescue is in the midst of a great infrastructure overhaul at the bear rescue facility. After coming to the newly agreed upon terms and requirements with our permitting state wildlife agency in July, the ABR team has been working diligently to try and accomplish these needs before the approaching 2026 cub season.

One of these new requirements asks us to institute preventative measures that will stop any potential runoff going from one wild enclosure into another. This is important for not only biosecurity measures, but also mitigating soil erosion effects from frequently draining the cub drinking tubs and pools.

To do this, we’ve worked closely with Patrick McMahon, an experienced Hydrology Engineer with Civil & Environmental Consultants, Inc. in Knoxville, Tennessee. Patrick has designed a complex French draining system for ABR that will be equipped to handle 100-year floodwaters when it is all said and done.

Following the natural grade and elevation of the ABR facility's landscape, two pipes will run parallel along the backs of Wild Enclosures 1 & 2, inside of the perimeter fence that separates these enclosures from our two newest. Where the two pipes meet, a large concrete catch basin will need to be buried to collect the runoff. From the catch basin, runoff from Wild Enclosures 1 & 2 will then travel underground through another pipe that will be buried beneath Wild Enclosures 5 & 6 to circumnavigate ever coming into contact with the soil's surface of these two enclosures.

The pipe will finally drain out behind Wild Enclosures 5 & 6 where the natural flow of water would follow and drain to. Last week during the winter weather advisory in Townsend, ABR curators and our good friend Josh with Rimel's Property Services braved the snowflakes to finish excavating ditches for the underground pipes of Wild Enclosures 1 & 2. However, they soon found themselves between a rock and a hard place (literally!!). More on that tomorrow…😵‍💫

Thank you to everyone who bid on the weekend auction items! Together we raised $553.50 to go towards the Cubs Forever Campaign. Every dollar counts! 🐻

11/16/2025

ABR Daily Update-November 16, 2025-Sunflower Sunday🌻🐻

Weather: 61°F (16°C) Humidity 29%, Sunny🌞

Five years ago today we were keeping busy with Sunflower Bear’s release back into the wild. Sunflower was revered by many for the quirky “half-ear” on her left side. She was an orphaned female cub from the state of South Carolina, and she arrived to us in June of 2020. To celebrate five years back in the wild, please enjoy this short video of Sunflower and her enclosure-mates playing with the felt tarp that surrounded acclimation pen 2.

Here at ABR, we keep visual barriers like this tarp wherever we can to prevent resident bears from ever seeing their human caretakers. As you can see in this video, the old concealment tarps were made of felt and proved to be easily worn and torn from the elements (and a few bear cubs).

Thanks to our amazing supporters, all of the visual barriers in our new wild enclosures and acclimation pens will be made with a much sturdier construction cloth that lets airflow through and is less likely to tear and blow around. The old fabric has already been replaced out in wild enclosures 1 and 2. Enclosures 3-6 will also utilize the new, green-colored barriers. Each donation we receive is carefully assigned to a variety of specific needs we have at the rescue facility - like upgrading the material we’ve historically used for visual barriers. Thank you so much for your support. ❤

Don’t forget that ABR's weekend auction ends TONIGHT at 8PM eastern. All proceeds go directly towards helping us build new tomorrows for future bear cubs in need.
"My Mountain" Auction Painting: https://ebay.us/m/LHW0rF
Multi-Colored Quilt: https://ebay.us/m/DcNTEL
ABR Holiday Gift Basket: https://ebay.us/m/cykGWC

11/15/2025

ABR Daily Update - November 15, 2025 - 6️⃣ Years Ago

Weather: 68F (20C) Humidity 57%, Mostly Cloudy 🌥️

Six years ago today, a bear named Dandelion crawled up and into one of the manmade vertical dens in a wild enclosure and blessed us with this photograph. 😂☺️❤ We hope it brightens your Saturday as it did ours!

** Don't forget that our current ebay auction will close tomorrow at 8PM eastern. Links to the items are below.
"My Mountain" Auction Painting: https://ebay.us/m/LHW0rF
Multi-Colored Quilt: https://ebay.us/m/DcNTEL
ABR Holiday Gift Basket: https://ebay.us/m/cykGWC

This is MINE

11/14/2025

ABR Daily Update-November 14, 2025-Cubs Forever Campaign Update

Weather: 53°F (12°C) Humidity 29%, Sunny🌞

Happy Friday Ursine Friends! As we head into this weekend, please know that your unwavering support of Appalachian Bear Rescue and our mission for bear cubs does not go unnoticed, nor without tremendous gratitude. It has been 294 days since a rescued black bear has been beyond our facility's gates. That was on January 23rd during Bear #426, Pheonix Bear’s, “Graduation Day”. Since then, friends, followers and supporters from near and far have continued to show up for us, encourage us and roll with the punches alongside of us. You are all truly wonderful. ❤

We are extremely happy to let you know that we have officially raised 91% of our total Cubs Forever Campaign goal!!! In just under 17 weeks, we have raised $623,000 to go towards the necessary expansions and renovations that are required of our bear care facility in order to welcome future bear cubs back through our gates. We couldn’t do this without you.

This weekend we are offering a three-item auction with variable starting bids for folks who want to give back to bears in need, but maybe prefer a lower price point. The auction is LIVE now and will remain open until Sunday, November 16th at 8PM eastern.

ABR supporter Doreen Prakshot has donated her beautiful 30"x30" canvas painting titled “My Mountain”. Doreen is a talented artist and fondly known by fellow ABR followers as the artist of the “Finnegan and Mother Bunny” pieces. Samantha Barton, another ABR supporter, generously donated a colorful, cozy quilt that she specifically handcrafted to help us raise money for our organization. This 60”x72” inch quilt features a patch with the artist’s dedication to ABR. Lastly, we are offering a holiday gift basket featuring “throwback” items from ABR’s past holiday collections. It should be noted that this bear-themed basket includes two items that were also made by ABR friends – artist Jillie Eves and Shelly Wingerter.

All proceeds from this weekend’s auction will go towards the Cubs Forever Campaign total. We would love to reach our campaign goal before Giving Tuesday. Donate today to help us bring bear cubs back to ABR. 🐻 Thank you for being here.

Bid on "MY MOUNTAIN" PAINTING: https://ebay.us/m/LHW0rF

Bid on the COLORFUL QUILT: https://ebay.us/m/DcNTEL

Bid on ABR's HOLIDAY BASKET: https://ebay.us/m/cykGWC

11/13/2025

ABR Daily Update-November 13, 2025-Making Cubs🐻

Weather: 59°F (15°C) Humidity 41%, Cloudy⛅️

Thank you for BEARing with us as we worked through those technology issues. All is still well here today at the ABR bear care facility! Last night ABR members joined Tori, Greg, Katrina and Daryl Ratajczak for our 7th Beary Good Reads book club discussion. We are currently reading Daryl's book “Spooning a Bear”, and we are learning so much!!

Daryl has graciously donated his time to lead the discussions around his book and offer us exclusive insights, stories and bear knowledge. A couple weeks ago we “put our nerd hats on” (as Daryl likes to say) and learned all about the amazing biological adaptation of delayed implantation. Now is the time of year when female bears bodies are deciding if they have accumulated enough fat reserves to sustain themselves and a litter of cubs this winter. We are sharing a clip from that discussion in today's post.

If you would like to join us for the last month of book club, you can become an ABR member TODAY! And it's not too late to order the book! Proceeds from participating in book club via becoming an ABR member and purchasing Daryl’s book go directly back to supporting the Cubs Forever Campaign. It is not required to read the book to join in on the discussions. In fact, anyone who has been an active ABR member in 2025 will receive a link to all of the archived book club discussions at the end of this year.

Whether you join live, read at your own pace, or just become a member for the recordings, we are happy to have you. ☺️ Thank you for your support.

Become an ABR Member: https://appalachianbearrescue.org/become-a-member/

Purchase “Spooning a Bear”: https://a.co/d/0yYXRQC

11/12/2025

All is well over here! We are having problems posting to Facebook and hope to have things straightened out by tomorrow. As always, thank you for your patience and support!! 🐻