SAN JUAN NATIONAL FOREST – With a bound, a tumble and not a second of hesitation, three bear cubs fled the open crate and disappeared from the clearing.
Two of the triplets paused for a moment, exploring the trunk of pine tree, before the trio scuttled down the hillside.
“As soon as we’re gone, they vocalize, they’ll call to each other, and they’ll get back together,” said Michael Sirochman, the manager of Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s Frisco Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation Facility in Del Norte.
The black bear cubs spent the better part of four months at the rehab center, where they were brought in July after they were orphaned. The sow broke into a home near Durango – a serious threat to human health and safety – and had to be euthanized.
However, the 9-month-old cubs did not enter the home, said Area 15 Wildlife Manager Adrian Archuleta, and were given a second chance and sent off to Frisco Creek, where they would receive ample calories.
It was a busy year for CPW officials in Area 15, which covers the southwest corner of state. Bear reports nearly doubled over last year – 842 encounters or sightings were documented, up from 426 in 2023 and 274 in 2022.
Sirochman hosted 25 bears at the state’s rehab facility, seven of which were captured in the Durango office’s jurisdiction. Five of those seven were released Wednesday on national forest land near Pagosa Springs.
In captivity, Sirochman makes a concerted effort not to habituate the bears with humans. They are kept in a pen with blinds, shielded from the sight of humans. Staff members are careful not to speak near the pen, lest they train the bears to be comfortable with humans or associate voices with food.
“We don’t want them getting comfortable seeing people or hearing human voices,” he said. “So, when they encounter people in the wild, starting today, they will act like a wild bear and respond appropriately, retreat (and) leave the area.”
The cubs are fed a mixture of whatever available forage they might naturally encounter in the wild and a protein-rich commercial feed.
“Throughout their time there, we tried to introduce them to some natural foods,” Sirochman said. “We have gooseberries and currants and choke cherries nearby.”
All of this is in keeping with the goal of raising bears that are not likely to engage in the kind of conflict behavior that led to the orphaning of these three cubs in the first place.
As winter nears, Sirochman starts to taper the cubs off a high-protein diet and replace it with produce in order to mimic the natural transition bears would experience in the wild.
The decline in protein, paired with changing daylight and temperatures, signals to the cubs that winter is near, and triggers an instinct to find a den. The other pair of bears released Wednesday were given their last apple on a Friday, Sirochman said, and by Monday the pair was gathering material to build a den.
In some circumstances, CPW will hold onto bears until they are large enough for release and situate them in a human-made den. About 25% of those bears will abandon that den, Sirochman said.
“In some ways, I’d rather do a fall release where they have the advantage of dry ground right now to find a place and settle down,” he said.
The triplet female cubs released Wednesday weighed somewhere between 80 pounds and 100 pounds, although in the wild they would likely weigh in the 50- to 75-pound range.
Given their good health, wildlife officials say the survival of the cubs through the winter is all but guaranteed. On average, cubs take six days to find a den after release from captivity.
CPW has conducted many successful releases in that same location in the past, chosen in part because the surrounding aspens host understory vegetation that will bear springtime nutrients. And given the suitability of the habitat and past experiences, officials say these bears are unlikely to cause conflict with landowners or homeowners in the future.
And to see the three bears, happy and healthy, bound out into the woods? That’s a win for CPW.
“It’s definitely gratifying to know that we did some good and gave these bears a chance,” Archuleta said.
rschafir@durangoherald.com
