Appalachian Bear Rescue

04/12/2025

ABR Daily Update- April 12, 2025-Progress made 👷🏼‍♂️🔨

Weather:56F (13C) Humidity 47%, Partly cloudy 🌤️

Our curators have moved on to Wild Enclosures #3 and #4. Although these enclosures won’t be in use for a while, it’s important that they are cleaned and renovated, ready to go when needed.

Today’s video is from 2015 and shows our then-resident cubs foraging. At the time, the cubs would have been about seven months old, just months away from returning to the wild. ABR aims to keep cubs for as little time as possible, minimizing their habituation to captivity while giving them the best chance at survival. We typically release bears in the late fall or early winter, when they are about ten or eleven months old, relying on the lack of food in the wild to trigger their hibernation instinct. They will have plenty of fat reserves to see them through the winter and will begin the mostly solitary life of a black bear in the spring. Please click in the link below:🐻

https://youtu.be/cwP2MOOWe08?si=Gq5vgMPBRaRlWnNk

🎉Our Visitor & Education Center at Trillium Cove is open! Please click on the link for more information:
https://appalachianbearrescue.org/contact-us/

🛑bearwise.org offers excellent information on what black bears are up to at this time of year and what to do if you hike or live in “Bear Country”.

*We post one update daily, seven days a week

04/11/2025

April 11th 2025 - BearWise Business SHOUTOUT 🐻📣🪸

Appalachian Bear Rescue would like to acknowledge Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies for working very hard to improve their outdoor fridge and freezer area. Back in November of 2024, Chuck Winstead worked with ABR's Operations Director, Greg Grieco, to install an unwelcome mat at the entrance of the facility's cold food storage. An unwelcome mat is an electrified, physical deterrent that effectively keeps bears away by delivering a brief shock if stepped on.

While this tactic worked, Ripley's Aquarium knew that it was only a temporary fix to their problem. Since then, they have spent a lot of time and money to secure a more permanent solution that keeps bears and people safe. Now, a caged structure surrounds the aquarium's fridges and freezers, and knowing that black bears instincts are to go "UP", they even included a ceiling panel.

It has been a pleasure working with Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies and we thank them for their commitment to coexist with Gatlinburg black bears! 👏

04/11/2025

April 10, 2025: Sorry We Are Late
We apologize for the late post today. We had a storm late today and we are having a few technical difficulties. We are all fine here and we will post tomorrow.

04/10/2025

April 9th 2025 - We apologize for such a late post today - the day got away from us!! We hope you enjoy the below video explaining the evolution of ABR's divided doors and pens. 🐻

04/09/2025

April 8, 2025: On To Enclosures 3 and 4

Today was a beautiful, though cool, day in the ABR neighborhood. Over the weekend our ABR volunteers helped to gather all the old brush into piles in Enclosure 4. Today, the Curators began dismantling the platforms in Enclosure 3. It's heavy, hard work, but the team is up to the task. We will keep working every day until Enclosures 3 and 4 are fresh and new, just like we did in Enclosures 1 and 2.

Over at Trillium Cove, Curator Tom and ABR Board Member Mike worked on installing new lights on the big Trillium Cove sign out at the the highway entrance. It's been more than a year ago that the old sign blew down in a big wind storm. The business owners association replaced the sign, but lights didn't happen until today. We will try to post photos of Tom and Mike's work later this week.

Today, we include photos of the spring wildflower Mayapple, and Curator Seth's photo of some Spring Peeper tadpoles and eggs. For those of us who have been around awhile, it's interesting to point out that we now have lots of Mayapple in Enclosures 1 and 3. For years, this wildflower no longer came up in Enclosure 1. It was trampled to non-existence years ago. It made a resurgence when we first burned the wild enclosures in 2020. The controlled burns kill bacteria and viruses, but they also unlock the old seed bank deep in the soil. As we continue with the burns, we hope to see more wildflowers and other plants sprout in our enclosures.

We can't thank you enough for your support and your patience as we renovate our bear facility. We couldn't do our work without all of you!

04/07/2025

ABR Daily Update - April 7, 2025 - Blooming Spring🌼🌿🌸

Weather: 59°F (15°C), Humidity 100%, Cloudy ☁️

Our Wild Enclosures are beginning to green and bloom. In the wild, mother bears and their cubs will soon be leaving their dens; mothers with yearlings may already be out. The cubs of 2025 are less than three months old and still dependent on their mothers for everything. They are at their most vulnerable once they leave the den. Although still wobbly and small, they must go outside and climb. A tree will be a black bear's best friend for life, and climbing is their best defense.

Bennie, Jerry, and Carrie Bear arrived at ABR in 2013 at about two and a half months of age. Feeding cubs this young is demanding and difficult; providing them with the hands-on care they need without habituating them to humans is a delicate balancing act. We try to wean the cubs off the bottle and then onto solid foods much earlier than they would in the wild. Please click on the link below.🐻🐻🐻

https://youtu.be/Ba-TdpvaJn8?si=cZLoBRdRe6s2udMz

🎉Our Visitor & Education Center at Trillium Cove is open! Please click on the link for more information:
https://appalachianbearrescue.org/contact-us/

🛑bearwise.org offers excellent information on what black bears are up to at this time of year and what to do if you hike or live in “Bear Country”.

*We post one update daily, seven days a week.

04/06/2025

ABR Daily Update-April 6, 2025-Fencing ⧚ 🤺

Weather: 69F (21C) Humidity 95%, Cloudy ☁️

Volunteers and curators gathered at the ABR Facility yesterday to install new ripstop fabric "curtains" on the fences of the wild enclosures. The curators strive to keep contact with bears to a minimum, including visual contact. Although the bears will smell anyone who approaches, they won't be able to see them.

The Beary Triplets, residents at ABR in 2019, were also known as the "Wrestling Bearys" because they loved to fight more than anything. However, their obsession with "The Forbidden Tree” came a close second. The sheathed trees are near the perimeter fences, and we prefer bears not climb them and "self-release." Most of our bears are indifferent; they see the trees, try to climb, fail, and then forget about them. The Bearys were… different. Over several weeks, they persistently pried and worried the metal sheath until they finally succeeded. However, their victory was short-lived; the curators replaced the old metal sheath with the now-familiar black plastic. The Bearys saw this as a challenge, and continued trying to climb the tree until the day before they returned to the wild.🐻🐻🐻 Please click on the link below.

https://youtu.be/iq0apkTqz2A?si=dhv13mf-lDwAwZIn

🎉Our Visitor & Education Center at Trillium Cove is open! Please click on the link for more information:
https://appalachianbearrescue.org/contact-us/

🛑bearwise.org offers excellent information on what black bears are up to at this time of year and what to do if you hike or live in “Bear Country”.

*We post one update daily, seven days a week.

04/05/2025

ABR Daily Update-April 5, 2025-Building New Tomorrows 👷‍♀️🐻

Weather: 88F (31C) Humidity 45%, Mostly cloudy 🌥️

It's a hot day; our curators and volunteers are installing heavy cloth shielding on the Wild Enclosure fencing. At ABR, we strive to minimize human/cub contact. Although the bears can smell our presence, the cloth prevents them from seeing the curators and associating them visually with food. The curators also worked on the new ramp and firehose hammock. We are impressed with their weaving skills; the hammock looks very fine indeed.

Today, we offer you a taste of Beignet, a sweet Louisiana bear cub who, along with her brother Boudreaux, was flown to ABR from Louisiana aboard Bear Force One on March 1, 2019. Beignet was just a tiny cub (one pound) and had a complicated residency at ABR. In this video, Beignet (now seven months old) is recovering in Hartley House from yet another setback: a fracture (her second) of her right femur in her back leg. Keeping a black bear from climbing is very challenging, and it was up to the curators to keep Beignet amused and distracted from her injury. We hope you enjoy this video of Beignet wrecking a box. Beignet and Boudreaux were scheduled to return to Louisiana in March 2020, but the COVID-19 travel restrictions delayed their return until May 5, 2020. Beignet weighed 90 pounds (40.82 kg), while her brother weighed 127 pounds (57.61 kg). Please click on the link below:

ABR Daily Update-April 5, 2025-Building New Tomorrows

Weather: 88F (31C) Humidity 45%, Mostly cloudy

It's a hot day; our curators and volunteers are installing heavy cloth shielding on the Wild Enclosure fencing. At ABR, we strive to minimize human/cub contact. Although the bears can smell our presence, the cloth prevents them from seeing the curators and associating them visually with food. The curators also worked on the new ramp and firehose hammock. We are impressed with their weaving skills; the hammock looks very fine indeed.

Today, we offer you a taste of Beignet, a sweet bear cub who, along with her brother Boudreaux, was flown to ABR from Louisiana aboard Bear Force One on March 1, 2019. Beignet was just a tiny cub (one pound) and had a complicated residency at ABR. In this video, Beignet (now seven months old) is recovering in Hartley House from yet another setback: a fracture (her second) of her right femur in her back leg. Keeping a black bear from climbing is very challenging, and it was up to the curators to keep Beignet amused and distracted from her injury. We hope you enjoy this video of Beignet wrecking a box. Beignet and Boudreaux were scheduled to return to Louisiana in March 2020, but the COVID-19 travel restrictions delayed their return until May 5, 2020. Beignet weighed 90 pounds (40.82 kg), while her brother weighed 127 pounds (57.61 kg). Please click on the link below:
https://youtu.be/w2grWKSLVSY?si=ZLDkeAK4hY9fUv3k

🎉Our Visitor & Education Center at Trillium Cove is open! Please click on the link for more information:
https://appalachianbearrescue.org/contact-us/

🛑bearwise.org offers excellent information on what black bears are up to at this time of year and what to do if you hike or live in “Bear Country”.

*We post one update daily, seven days a week.

04/04/2025

Bears are coming out of their dens!! Join Tori and Greg to talk about springtime bear safety. 🐻 https://www.wbir.com/article/life/animals/how-to-prepare-for-bear-season/51-6ccc5bb8-e8e4-46f2-938a-6e206f061c1f

04/03/2025

April 3, 2025: Bridges, Fertilizer, Clean Cams and Visitors

Our East Tennessee weather is cooperating and we made more progress at the bear facility today. We know how fortunate we are that the sun is shining in Townsend. Our hearts go out to our fellow Tennesseans in the west and middle of our state and to all who are enduring the terrible storms and flooding rains. We hope that everyone will stay safe out there.

Some of us are less enthusiastic about our "visitors" today, but Curators Seth and Katrina enjoyed seeing a great big black rat snake and a common five lined skink in Enclosure 1. Lots of creatures call our enclosures home. The black snake certainly earns his keep by helping us control the rat and mouse population in the enclosures.

We won't replace the old tire bridges in our enclosures. The rubber is very difficult to clean. Curator Seth designed some swinging bridges and we installed another one today...this one in Enclosure 1. The bridges passed the Seth Test!

Curators Tom and Jamie spread fertilizer in Enclosures 1 and 2 today. We can already see the seeds we planted last week are sprouting. It won't be long until the lush green carpet of grasses is back and ready to go.

Every year, we take the time to clean the lens of every camera. There are a couple of them that are mounted over 30 feet in the air. These pose a problem when it comes to cleaning and maintenance. We ordered a 30-foot extension pole to solve the problem. We'd become accustomed to looking through the smudges and glare! What a difference a scrubbing makes! Thank you, Curator Jamie!

Thank you for your support as we renovate our bear facility. We couldn't do our work without you. https://appalachianbearrescue.org/2024-bear-necessities-campaign/

04/02/2025

ABR Daily Update – April 2nd, 2025 – Life-Sized Chutes and Ladders🐻🪜

Weather: 79F (26C) Humidity 66%, Windy 💨

While bear cubs have no use for board games, many human children (and adults) are familiar with the game Chutes and Ladders. After today’s work at the bear care facility, Appalachian Bear Rescue is beginning to look a lot like a life-sized version of the game! Curators continued to construct and hang enrichment items out in Wild Enclosures 1 and 2. Engineering enrichment for the bear cubs is often enriching for the curators themselves! It’s a fun challenge to think up new designs that can both challenge a cub’s instincts and withstand their relentless curiosity.

Curators were proud to design and hang Appalachian Bear Rescue’s first ever cubby ladder. Curators used steel cables to weave the ladder rungs together and topped them off with cypress boards. It’s a great replacement for the tire bridges and another way for cubs to access the platforms. They will build another one tomorrow.

As for the chutes, did you know that there is a chute between room 1 of Hartley House and Acclimation Pen 1? Used to move bears seamlessly from Wild Enclosure, to Acclimation Pen, to Hartley House and back again, this chute is one way that we can shift bears between their rehabilitation care stages without additional stress or human interaction. As always, thank you for your support. ❤

03/31/2025

ABR Daily Update - March 31, 2025-Cubs for a Rainy Day 🐻☔️

Weather:67F (19C) Humidity 95%, Cloudy, Rain 🌧️

It's been raining, so the curators have confined their work to indoor tasks, such as updating records and other digitally based stuff. On a wet day like today, we'd like to share this cheerful video with you.

Blackbeary, Hucklebeary, and Bluebeary were two-month-old black bear cubs (two boys and a girl). They arrived at Appalachian Bear Rescue on April 7, 2019. The triplets came to be known as "The Wrestling Bearys" because they enjoyed fighting more than eating. In fact, we had to separate them for a while in the Cub Nursery to ensure they received proper nutrition before jumping back in the ring. The triplets were returned to the wild on December 6, 2019, weighing 84 pounds (38.10 kg), 85 pounds (38.55kg), and 77.4 pounds (34.92 kg), respectively. We hope they are thriving out there.🐻🐻🐻❤️

🎉Our Visitor & Education Center at Trillium Cove is open! Please click on the link for more information:
https://appalachianbearrescue.org/contact-us/

🛑bearwise.org offers excellent information on what black bears are up to at this time of year and what to do if you hike or live in “Bear Country”.

*We post one update daily, seven days a week.

https://youtu.be/Iasw43XsqEM?si=bzeEuzij9XOIh4mB

Blackbeary, Hucklebeary and Bluebeary are three-month-old black bear cubs. They arrived at Appalachian Bear Rescue on April 7, 2019. The cubs just graduated ...

03/30/2025

ABR Daily Update-March 30, 2025-Working for Bears 🐻👷‍♀️

Weather: 72F (22C) Humidity 87%, Light rain 🌧️

For those who volunteer or work at Appalachian Bear Rescue, caring for bears involves more than just providing shelter for orphaned or injured animals. It also means trying to prevent cubs from needing rescue in the first place. Education is crucial, and Curator Greg and volunteers were pleased to represent ABR at the Maryville College STEM Fest (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). Our booth and games attracted attention, particularly the preserved bear s**t, which was once again a hit. This event provided a perfect opportunity to inform people about black bears and our mission.

ABR's Bear Safe Litter Task Force, in collaboration with Keep Blount Beautiful's Townsend Clean-up, visited the two-mile stretch of Highway 321 that we adopted to clean up trash. We take our role as "foster parents" seriously and regularly visit "our" highway to keep it clean. Trash can be deadly, as it often hides hazardous items like batteries in food remains, and it also lures bears closer to highways, increasing the risk of vehicle accidents. Among all the tasks associated with bear rescue, cleaning up garbage is one of the least appealing and most risky; you’ve no idea what has been discarded from passing vehicles. Our volunteers are very careful about what they pick up and how they do it.

Last week, we posted a video of former resident Marvin Bear vocalizing over his grapes. Today, we’re sharing a video of Marvin swimming "upstream" in what became known as "Marvin's Creek." Although we never saw him enter the Cubby Pool, he did use the Drinking Tub and his creek. He was a wonderfully quirky little bear, and we wish him well in the wild.Please click on the link below:
https://youtu.be/bxaXtDV_jRI?si=K_EurDyDwynHzqRq

🎉Our Visitor & Education Center at Trillium Cove is open! Please click on the link for more information:
https://appalachianbearrescue.org/contact-us/

🛑bearwise.org offers excellent information on what black bears are up to at this time of year and what to do if you hike or live in “Bear Country”.

*We post one update daily, seven days a week.

03/29/2025

ABR Daily Update-March 29, 2025-New Kids on the Block 🐐🐐

Weather: 78F(26C) Humidity 55%, Cloudy ☁️

Our curators and volunteers continue to rehabilitate the facility and our Trillium Cove Visitor Center. Curators Seth, Katrina, and Greg worked on pressure washing the Recovery Center Acclimation Pen, and Acclimation Pen #3 in preparation for sealing the concrete floor. This will not be the same sealer used in the interiors; it’s more suited to indoor use. The sealer will make the concrete floor more resistant to waste products from the cubs and make it easier to clean.

Our Visitor Center was in need of sprucing up, and we are grateful to DiAnne Wilson, Pat Chrisman, and Curator Tom for the excellent paint work. We’re proud of the Center and want it to be in top shape to welcome our friends.

Curator Greg and his wife, Curator Katrina, keep a small menagerie of animals on their property. They are happy to announce the arrival of two baby goats, Cassiopeia and her brother, Orion. We congratulate Mother Addi and Father Donnie on their lively babies. The kids bounce around as if they were on springs and will likely be a handful. ❤️❤️

Many of you are wondering about our operational status. We're working with the TWRA on a way forward and hope to resume operations soon. *Edited for clarity: We haven’t heard about any cubs needing our assistance this season. That’s not unusual ; some rescue seasons start early, some later in the year. 🐻

🎉Our Visitor & Education Center at Trillium Cove is open! Please click on the link for more information:
https://appalachianbearrescue.org/contact-us/

🛑bearwise.org offers excellent information on what black bears are up to at this time of year and what to do if you hike or live in “Bear Country”.

*We post one update daily, seven days a week.

03/28/2025

ABR Daily Update - March 28, 2025 – Preparing for STEMFest👩‍🔬🐻🕹️🧠🧪🐛🤖

Weather: 77°F (25°C) Humidity 34%, Partly Cloudy ⛅️

Today our curators prepared for the Maryville College STEMFest that’s taking place tomorrow from 2PM-6PM at Maryville College. Appalachian Bear Rescue will be there with lots of BearWise information and games, including cub co****le! The Maryville College STEMFest is an educational carnival that welcomes families, students and STEM professionals from around the region. STEM represents the professional workforce of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

We often get asked what educational background is required for positions like the ones at Appalachian Bear Rescue. The truth is, so much more than just continued education is taken into consideration throughout any organization’s hiring process. However, many jobs in wildlife or wildlife-related fields ask for post-secondary degrees in areas like wildlife and fisheries, biology, ecology, natural resources management, zoology, animal science, or other closely related fields.

We are looking forward to spending our Saturday with fellow science/wildlife/biology enthusiasts! If you are interested in attending, general admission is $5 and includes a limited number of game tickets. Past STEMFest games have included life-sized Operation and pie eating contests.

03/28/2025

March 27, 2025: A Slower Day, But Progress

Yesterday's adventure with the aerator and spreading seed in Enclosures 1 and 2 was quite the task. There were some sore arms, backs and legs this morning, but seeing the progress is very rewarding. Today went at a slower pace with teammates working out some of the details.

Greg returned the rented aerator early this morning. On the way back, he swung by the auto body shop and picked up a small piece for the Tundra bed liner. That piece finishes the Tundra repairs. Among other tasks, Curator Seth spent time blowing leaves from Acclimation Pens 3 and 4. If plans work out, we will put sealer on the concrete floors of those pens tomorrow. Seth and Katrina manned the sprinklers in Enclosures 1 and 2. We need to keep the soil most so the seeds germinate. We'll get a watering break on Sunday when it's likely to rain.

Then there's the camera on the divider fence between Enclosures 1 and 2. Everyone is pondering how to clean that camera, but the answers aren't obvious. Maybe a long extension pole? Maybe scaffolding? Maybe take the whole thing down and try again? It's a great camera in a great place. It gets great pictures. It's just way up there on a pole that's "iffy" at best. We'll keep thinking on that one.

We all enjoyed Tom's birthday lunch at Boss Hogg's BBQ today and came back to a yummy chocolate birthday cake. We'll send Tom one more "Happy Birthday" from the ABR team!