West Virginia Wildlife from Eyewitness News

Cold Winter Forces Bears into Unsual Dens

You won't believe the depths one female bear went to provide a warm home for her cubs

March 11, 2009
Reporter: Patrick McMurtry
Videographer: Brad Rice

EYEWITNESS ONLINE WEBCAST VIDEO
C L I C K T O P L A Y

The last time we saw this girl, she was taking off after biologists had checked out her den and the cubs she was raising. She had a pretty typical life in a pretty typical den. And she gave it all up for this...check out her new home in this old tree.

Eric Richmond/DNR Biologist says:
"Some kind of damage happened to this tree that has caused it to hollow out. Most of the holes will occur higher up in the tree. Now that's a pretty good den, isn't it? Absolutely."

We've covered all kinds of bears in all kinds of dens, but this is the first time I've come across one in a tree like this. We've seen them in little more than brush piles, dug into holes in the ground, but never trees. Eric says maybe the bears did a little forecasting this fall.

Eric Richmond/DNR Biologist says:
"What we've found in our den season is perhaps the bears have known we would have a colder than normal winter. The den sites have been significantly sheltered from the winter, deeper in the earth."

Patrick McMurtry says:
There are two cubs in this den....the tree was so deep we could barely see the sow sleeping through the whole thing. But after less than an hour of weighing and measuring the cubs, we can tell they look pretty good.

Eric Richmond says:
"Very healthy, and with their better than normal den site selection, it's gonna help them winter through the season much better."

And with a little luck, we'll see these guys next Spring. For West Virginia Wildlife, I'm Patrick McMurtry, Eyewitness News.