American black bear cub rehabilitation and release: Jurisdictional practices across North America

Rehabilitation and release back to the wild of orphaned American black bear (Ursus americanus) cubs is a wildlife management option used across North America. We reviewed the literature and surveyed wildlife managers and biologists within North America from August 2022 through March 2023 to gather information on their policies and practices regarding rehabilitation and release of orphaned black bear cubs. We define cubs as bears,1 year old but note that most releases happen when the animals are yearlings, typically 12-18 months of age. The literature suggests that when rehabilitation follows science-based protocols, it is a feasible management option, and rehabilitated cubs may survive at rates similar to those of their wild counterparts, die of similar causes, and generally have low rates of conflicts with humans. Repeatedly mentioned within both the literature and survey results was the importance of minimizing human contact and selecting appropriate release sites that consider habitat, food availability, proximity to humans, and the age structure, genetics, and density of black bears in the release area. We received 99 responses from 63 different jurisdictions. Rehabilitation of orphaned black bear cubs was allowed in 72.5% of surveyed jurisdictions with a breeding black bear population. In 82.3% of jurisdictions, a government agency was responsible for selecting release sites. The most common causes identified by our survey for cubs being orphaned were vehicle collisions (50 of 63 responses) and removal of mothers because of conflict behavior (35 of 63 responses). Almost all (96.9%) jurisdictions required rehabilitation centers to be licensed. On average, over the past 5 years (2018-2022), most (70.8%) jurisdictions rehabilitated,25 orphaned cubs. Lack of reliable and suitable rehabilitation centers following strict, science-based protocols was a frequently mentioned challenge, as was managing public perceptions and expectations. Despite these challenges, most (61%) survey respondents said rehabilitation of orphaned black bear cubs was either somewhat or very successful.