{"id":675,"date":"2025-11-27T17:30:04","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T17:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sstutor.com\/writings\/?p=675"},"modified":"2025-11-28T04:26:36","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T04:26:36","slug":"usa-2024-part-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sstutor.com\/writings\/usa-2024-part-24\/","title":{"rendered":"USA Part 24 – The bears"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Another set of similar animals were there in the zoo – fox, coyote, wolf – in ascending order of size. The nice thing here was that each of these animals had a name that was mentioned on the boards outside along with a little blurb about it – ex: there were 2 foxes – Storm and Jade; Jade was an orphan picked up by joggers when they realized that there were no signs of the mother around; Storm, on the other hand, was illegally owned as a pet, and thus was seized and brought to the conservatory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


\u201cLet\u2019s check if the bears are there.\u201d
Using the map, we walked towards the bear enclosure; we saw cardboard cutouts of black, brown and white polar bears.
\u201cEven if we don\u2019t see bears, we can take a snap with these life-size bears!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Black bears are not all black – they can be blonde or cinnamon-coloured too! Grizzly bears are a type of brown bear; brown bears are about 4 times as heavy as black bears. A black bear has its rump as the highest point, while a brown bear has its shoulder hump as the highest part. Polar bears are even heavier than brown bears – and they are carnivores, unlike the other two, which are omnivores.
The saying about brown bears and black bears has a 3rd part to it as well that made sense now – \u2018If it\u2019s brown lie down; if it\u2019s black fight back; if it\u2019s white goodnight.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome people are there near the fence – maybe the real bears are visible.\u201d
We went closer and saw not 1, not 2, but 3 brown bears in the vicinity. There was a little pond, plenty of grass and trees within the bear enclosure. A couple of them were walking around, and though they were large, they looked cute. One bear caught something in the water (seemed like a salmon), and it began thrashing around the catch ferociously at the edge of the pond – no matter how cute you think they are, beware their power!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moorthy captured the whole scene on video.
\u201cTwo of them are twins – JB and Patron.\u201d
Their story of how they landed in AWCC was a sad one – a mother bear (called a sow) killed a moose calf in some person\u2019s backyard; the person thought the bear might attack his dog and shot the bear with his gun. But her 10-month-old cubs were in a nearby tree. The AWCC took the 2 cubs in since they were orphaned.
\u201cThe other one is named Hugo.\u201d
Hugo was also found when she was less than a year old – a couple of folks while snowmobiling discovered her dehydrated, malnourished, and injured due to porcupine quills stuck on her paws. She was not able to walk or eat and was taken in by the AWCC. All 3 bears were now more than 20 years old. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>
The trio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYour video is good to use in National Geography,\u201d Rakesh said when seeing Moorthy\u2019s footage.
We walked along the perimeter fence till the bears disappeared into the grass and trees. JB weighed around 450 kgs as per a board that read \u2018sizing up JB\u2019!
\u201cMission accomplished – we\u2019ve seen bears in Alaska.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n