TORONTO — Anyone who finds injured wildlife should seek local support for the animal rather than attempting to deal with the situation themselves, the director of an animal rescue charity says after two men picked up a black bear cub in northern Ontario and took it on a 10-hour drive south in their vehicle.
The executive director of Chatham-Kent's Pet and Wildlife Rescue Centre said her organization took care of the bear cub during the Labour Day weekend after it was found in the back of a van in Windsor, Ont.
Myriam Armstrong said two men found the bear in the middle of the road while driving near Cochrane, Ont., decided to bring it to Windsor and said they fed the bear food from Taco Bell.
"We actually took the bear from the back of their van and they were pretty pleased that they brought the bear down here and that they were feeding him Taco Bell," she said.
Armstrong said her team couldn't see any obvious injuries to the four-month-old bear but the animal was lethargic and stressed after being in a vehicle for 10 hours.
"We're assuming the bear was likely hit on the road at some point. It wasn't hurt on the surface, like we couldn't see any obvious injuries," she said.
"He was just a little bit off. So we just made sure to give him lots of space and a dark place to decompress."
Chatham-Kent's Pet and Wildlife Rescue Centre kept the bear overnight on Saturday and its team contacted a bear rescue organization in Huntsville, Ont., after which a volunteer drove the bear halfway there and the other organization picked it up.
"Now we're just waiting some updates," she said. "Hopefully the bear is OK"
Armstrong said people should seek local help if they encounter injured wild animals and not move them for long distances because that could lead to transferring diseases to new animal populations.
"There's always dangers when relocating wildlife," she said. "You can be transferring different diseases to a new population. So, always try and find somebody locally. You can always call the shelters or the police or anybody who has some authority that can connect you to the right people."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 4, 2024.
Maan Alhmidi, The Canadian Press