Bear cub at work!

We had a bear cub at work behind our building. He was halfway up in a tree, just hanging out...he didn't look scared or anything. I was kind of surprised because there is a lot of construction going on the road in front of our building (they are building a new hospital) but the area around is pretty rural, for now at least.

A few people went right done to the wood line to get a closer look. I was standing as close to the door as I could, because I figured where there is a baby, there is probably a much bigger mommy nearby! I didn't want to have to mess with her!

He eventually got tired of the attention and crawled down and walked back into the woods. I didn't realize until I told DH about it that we did have a short bear season (a few days I think) and his mom could have killed. I wouldn't think a mommy bear would let her cub that close to humans, especially with all the noise of construction. Now I feel bad that I didn't do something. I don't even know how old the poor thing was, if he was still nursing and his mama is gone....

Any suggestions?

Hmm...I don't know much about bears. Is there some kind of wildlife group you could contact to see what they think?

Maybe you could ask your state fish&game control. Actually, bears esp. this time of year, are teaching their young that humans put yummies in the dumpsters. There is a real problem with that sort of behavior out here - they have incredible noses to sniff up food, and they like the oddest things - esp. chocolate & certain scented shampoos. Poor bears - that human food is bad for their health, too.

With all the rules and regulations concerning wildlife right now- your local Animal Control officers won't be able to do anything about the bear in most cases. Your best bet is to notify your local Wildlife Rescue (i know for us - i work for AC- when we get calls about something of that nature, we normally call Tennessee Wildlife Rescue). If the baby bear has wondered off, they may not be able to do much about it if they can't locate it- but i would just call to see if they possibly can check on it just to be on the safe side incase the young cub's momma did get shot.

Thanks guys. I think I will try to call and just have someone check it out. I don't know much about bears, but I just thought it was strange that a mom would let humans get so close to her baby without trying to protect it. We don't have any dumpsters behind our workplace, although we do have trashcans which get raided at night by raccoons (I stood 4 feet away when a raccoon dived in to get dinner for him and his companion). There is just woods and a moutain behind there but it is still in city limits so hopefully the hunting season didn't take his momma. Maybe he just wanted a birds eye view of the world.