Orphaned cub finds comfort with teddy bear, costumed caregivers

In this photo provided by San Diego Humane Society an employee wears a costume while interacting with a bear cub which was uncovered alone in Los Padres National Forest bottom left at the San Diego Human Society Ramona Wildlife Center on Sunday May in Ramona Calif San Diego Humane Society via AP Autumn Welch dons a fur coat leather gloves and a bear mask for work these days then enters an enclosure to feed and fawn over a -pound black bear cub who she hopes will consider her family The orphaned cub was about two months old when he was detected April in Southern California s Los Padres National Forest weak underweight and alone In this photo provided by San Diego Humane Society a bear cub which was located alone in Los Padres National Forest is housed at the San Diego Human Society Ramona Wildlife Center on Wednesday April in Ramona Calif San Diego Humane Society via AP Since then the baby bear has been cared for by Welch s unit with the San Diego Humane Society in sessions that mimic familial behaviors The hope is to eventually return the cub to the wild The bear costume is meant to stop the rescued cub from bonding with humans The fur coats are stored in bins with hay scented by black bears The organization went through a insufficient masks before finding one that fit properly Mama is a giant stuffed teddy bear propped up in the corner of a pen at the society s -acre Ramona Wildlife Center That s where the cub turns when he s spooked or just wants to snuggle up for a nap mentioned Welch the wildlife operations manager He s ostensibly really missing his real mom she commented When the costumed family members enter the cub treats them like siblings He rambunctiously plays with them and happily accepts grass and fresh wildflowers to munch A milestone was met in recent days when the youngster learned to dig through soil for worms and insects which he caught on to pretty quick Welch revealed Other food is placed in tree branches for him to find on his own Band members took heart when they in recent days revealed the cub snoozing on a tree branch a common behavior for bears in the wild He s very thoughtful He s constantly taking in his habitat Welch disclosed The California Department of Fish and Wildlife tried to reunite the cub with his mother after campers unveiled him They returned the youngster to the wild overnight but took him in when she didn t appear The emaciated -pound baby bear was then transported to the Ramona wildlife center The cub has quadrupled in size since then In this photo provided by San Diego Humane Society a bear cub which was unveiled alone in Los Padres National Forest sleeps at the San Diego Human Society Ramona Wildlife Center on Monday April in Ramona Calif San Diego Humane Society via AP Biologists hope they can return him to the wilderness next year provided he can learn to find food seek shelter and avoid people The cub is the fourth to enter rehab care in California in the past five years He could be paired with a buddy if another one turns up because that would reduce the peril of them imprinting on humans In Virginia employees of the Richmond Wildlife Center last year acted like mother foxes to feed and care for an orphaned kit Video shows a caregiver in a red fox mask and rubber gloves feeding the tiny animal from a syringe Like the California cub and his teddy bear the kit sat on a large stuffed animal fox that was supposed to look like her mother The costumed-care technique is relatively new Welch disclosed so there s no conclusive research on its effectiveness But in Ramona Humane Society employees wearing coyote masks successfully raised three orphaned pups who have since been distributed into the wild And the Humane Society is amassing animal masks just in incident We haven t determined a good skunk mask yet Welch mentioned