Brevard Zoo helping 3 orphaned black bear cubs return to the wild

MELBOURNE, Fla. - The Brevard Zoo is helping orphaned black bears make it back to the wild. They're rehabbing several cubs this summer.  

The zoo is seeing more baby bears on their own because of car strikes or because they have lost their homes to increased development. 

Hazel, Pickles, and Ichabod never planned to meet at the Brevard Zoo, but they did when tragedy struck. 

"Their mom had actually been hit by a car," said Lauren Hinson, the director of animal programs at the Brevard Zoo. "We’re unsure of what happened to his mom; he was found alone on a busy highway alone, calling for his mom."

Earlier this summer, the zoo took in three orphans from two families. The cubs were all alone until they found each other.

"These three were, yes, best friends, playing, sleeping together, eating together," said Hinson. 

When the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) brought them to the zoo in June, they were five months old, and Hinson stepped in to be their mom from afar. Since the FWC said the bears had a chance at going into the wild, the zoo treated them quite differently than its resident black bears, Brody and Betty, whom it raised from babies. 

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During their stay, zoo staff had to keep their distance from the orphaned bears. Hinson kept her eyes always glued to the computer in her office because she was monitoring her babes through cameras. She stayed away because she didn’t want them to get too attached to humans.

"We actually would go in with what’s called Gilley suits. You’re walking in, and you look like a tree so that they don’t see you’re a person providing them with food," said Hinson. 

The zoo vets did not bottle-feed or cuddle the cubs, but the bears had each other and spent their days playing in the pool and climbing on trees. The three bear cubs spent about a month and a half at the Animal Care Center at the Brevard Zoo, but FWC said they were doing well and getting big enough to head to their next stop for rehab at an FWC facility in Florida. 

"That’s where they belong," said Hinson. 

Over the past two years, the zoo has rehabbed nine bears. Now, they're working to expand their bear enclosure soon because more cubs may need it.

The FWC tracks the bear mortality rate, which is increasing statewide. In 2004, there were 147 bears killed in the state. In 2023, 372 bears lost their lives, and 318 of them were struck by cars. 

"They don’t know what is going on," said the director. "They’ll call for their moms a lot."

The deaths mean babies lose parents, but these cubs have a shot at survival because humans stepped in to help.