'We have a responsibility to our relations' - how a Wiikwemkoong family rescued two orphaned bear cubs
Indigenous environmental science professor Jesse Popp was planning on spending the May long weekend fishing with her family at their Point Grond‐ ine camp - but Mother Nature had other plans.
"The night we got there, we were hearing some really weird chilling screams and we were sitting around the bonfire like, what is that?
"It sounded like a woman or baby screaming, so of course we had to investi‐ gate," she said.
That's how Popp and her family spotted a baby bear sitting up in a tree, howling away. As they weren't sure of the whereabouts of the mother, they decided to re‐ turn to the safety of their camp.
But, being Bear Clan from Wiikwemkoong, they wanted to ensure the safety and well‐ being of the cub.
"As Bear Clan, we see bears and all of our animal relations as our kin and we have a responsibility to pro‐ tect and take care of these beings."
The next day, they found the mother's dead body on the side of the road near their camp.
"It looked like through the signs left behind that she had dragged herself over to the side of the road and laid on her back because she wan‐ ted to take care of her cubs as she passed away as one fi‐ nal way to help them," said Popp.
She added that something needed to be done to keep the cubs alive, as they still re‐ lied on their mother's milk for sustenance.
So they worked tirelessly to track them down, and fi‐ nally found them close to their mom's body.
"We were able to take blankets and wrap them up," she said. "Then we got some special milk formula and called the Bear With Us sanc‐ tuary."
Cubs now being cared for in a bear sanctuary
That bear rehabilitation facility is located in Sprucedale, about an hour from Parry Sound.
Bear With Us president and founder Mike McIntosh says the centre received calls about at least three injured or orphaned bear cubs in the Greater Sudbury area in the last couple of days.
"These bear-car collisions happen especially on long weekends when there's traf‐ fic bumper to bumper and animals have a hard time darting across the road," he said.
He says bears have dis‐ tinctive personalities and it's not clear yet what kind of traits these two orphaned cubs will have.
"Right now they're ex‐ tremely stressed. They have no way of knowing we're not going to kill or hurt them," he said.
McIntosh said they've minimized contact for now to let them get used to their new surroundings, but they are located close to another, slightly older orphaned cub.
"This bear has been chuckling and talking to those cubs, and hearing her seems to be helping them settle," he added.
The plan is to keep feed‐ ing the cubs milk formula un‐ til they are old enough for more solid foods, like berries. They should be able to rein‐ tegrate to the Killarney area by next summer.
McIntosh says people who encounter bears in the wild should reach out to the On‐ tario's Bear Wise program for guidance and advice.
As for Popp, she said, "just like humans, our animal relations sometimes need help, and if you're careful and respectful and remem‐ ber that we have a responsi‐ bility to our relations, we can all help one another with co‐ existing."