CWRC, Assam, January 25, 2018: Two Asiatic black bear cubs, between one and two months old, were rescued and brought to CWRC (the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation, IFAW-WTI and the Assam Forest Department’s wildlife rescue, treatment and rehabilitation facility near Kaziranga National Park) on January 22.

Acting on a tip from local sources, a team of frontline forest staff confiscated the cubs from a house in Dokmoka.

Acting on a tip from local sources, a team of frontline staff from the Karbi Anglong Forest Department confiscated the cubs from a house in Dokmoka. The cubs had apparently been kept in the house for a week; it is surmised that villagers found them while moving through the nearby forest and brought them home to keep as pets.

A Mobile Veterinary Service (MVS) team led by CWRC veterinarian Dr Samshul Ali went to the village and received the cubs from the forest department. “The cubs, a male and a female weighing 1.5 kg and 1.4 kg respectively, seem to be in good health – despite the fact that they were given human food in captivity. They will be put through a disease screening and intensive health examination during the initial period of quarantine and stabilisation. They will then be hand-raised with the eventual aim of rehabilitation into the wild.”