BEAR League helps Oakland Zoo in creating new bear habitat

A mother Black Bear saved from being euthanized, along with her three cubs, are now calling the Oakland Zoo California Trail expansion their new home.

The zoo is collaborating with their conservation partner, the BEAR League of Lake Tahoe, in telling the story of how the bears came to live in the new 1.5 habitat at the zoo. The bears were fed by humans when living in the wild, and became accustomed and fearless of humans. Following an incident of the mother inflicting human injury, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) picked up the bears and deemed the mother a public safety threat. Per the law, she was initially set to be euthanized by CDFW - her cubs also determined by CDFW to be ineligible for re-release as they were too habituated to humans. An exception was made by CDFW in this case, allowing them to be taken in by Oakland Zoo permanently.

“When bears learn to take advantage of humans, specifically our kitchens and trash cans, they become comfortable around us and make some folks nervous. Rather than securing these food sources, too often the answer is to destroy the bears. We are grateful this bear family was saved from that horrific fate and has instead been invited to live at the Oakland Zoo's wonderful new California Trail where they will help teach people how to responsibly co-exist with wildlife,” said Ann Bryant, Executive Director of the BEAR League.

Since their capture the bears have been living temporarily in Oakland Zoo’s veterinary hospital while their new habitat was being constructed these past months.

See video of January 13 release here: https://youtu.be/yBScmDE3Ano

On January 13 the bears took their first steps into the habitat. They were tentative for the first few minutes but quickly appeared to be enjoying their new surroundings, exploring, playing, swimming and climbing trees. Zookeepers report that in addition to climbing their trees, the bears also like taking naps in them, in addition to their multiple dens. Black bears are known to be great climbers, not typical of all bear species.

While the public cannot yet see the bears in person until the June 2018 opening of California Trail, live-cams have been installed at the Black bear habitat and can be viewed immediately by all at: http://www.oaklandzoo.org/webcams - black-bear-cam

“Seeing our Black bears bounding through their new habitat that first day, exploring their new home, swimming, foraging, playfully wrestling with each other was such a great pleasure. Providing these bears a rich life in a complex natural habitat is what we set out to do, and I think we’re doing a good job accomplishing that goal,” said Heather Paddock, one of the primary zookeepers of the Black bears at Oakland Zoo.

In addition to their new habitat, the bears have 24-hour access to their night house, complete with shower features, five dens, skylights, and radiant floor heat.

Zookeepers stock the dens with hay for bedding, which on one night, the bears decided to push all into a single den so they could sleep together. The live webcams, viewable on the Oakland Zoo website, show the bears going out for what zookeepers are now calling ‘midnight pool parties’ as well.

The Black bear habitat in the Zoo’s expansion site is intended to mimic California habitat, educate visitors about wildlife in California and inspire people to take action for the future of the state’s wildlife and resources.