BLOOMINGDALE - Americans grew up with TV's Yogi Bear heisting picnic baskets at Jellystone and Smokey the Bear preaching fire safety, but a black bear that sends Christmas greetings?
That came as a surprise to Animal Control Officer Lysa DeLaurentis of the Wanaque area.
A female black bear, rescued from a car crash on Hamburg Turnpike in Bloomingdale last June, was the "bear"er of good news at Christmas time with its photo on a card telling of progress toward a spring release in the wilds of northern New Jersey.
"Thank you for saving me earlier this year," the bear relayed with a bit of help. "Your gifts of caring and time are really appreciated."
"She's doing great and set to be released as planned," said DeLaurentis, the animal control officer who tended to Yuma prior to surgery on a leg she broke so badly it needed a steel plate.
Now she and her mom, Dee Garbowski, president of the Wanaque-based Wildlife Freedom Inc., look forward to the prospect of being on hand when Yuma (now Broke Leg Bear) is returned to the woods.
Cubs hit a record 10
Broke Leg Bear is in the final stages of recovery at Woodlands Wildlife Refuge in Hunterdon County, where it became one of a record 10 cubs cared for at the only sanctuary for black bears in New Jersey.
"I wrote a silly card from the bear," admits Woodlands director Tracy Leaver, who decided to update rescuers on what had been a difficult recovery for the now-80-pound bruin.
"Her recovery was very long," she said, but Red Bank Veterinary Hospital donated most of the surgical procedure in a real boost to the nonprofit refuge, and slowly she began to heal.
Though she is still favoring one leg, the Bloomingdale cub is expected to be ready for a spring release, which will give her time to learn to forage for food before retreating to a winter den, according to Leaver.
Having a black bear as a patient is not easy. Leaver described the cub as not the most cooperative patient, especially when it came to being confined during recovery.
Still in all, her personality is "perfect" for a bear and suitable for release, she said.
"She's a little bit older, which gives her an edge, and she went through a lot," Leaver said, from being separated from her family to the accident and then the rescue.
In one recent development, Broke Leg Bear was allowed to take a roommate - Wicked, the first bear that arrived in May of 2007 - and the two became great friends, Leaver said.
The pair played together, giving Broke Leg Bear an opportunity to move around on her leg more and improve through sibling interaction. It was a sight Leaver called "wonderful."
To handle the record 10 cubs, Woodlands had some work to do. The refuge built a new 5,000-square-foot enclosure to take the load off its existing enclosure. Now Wicked, Broke Leg Bear and eight cubs orphaned from Vernon due to their moms' aggressive behavior can all look forward to larger quarters.
The high price of food
Prior to 2007, American black bears arrived at Woodlands at a rate of one to two a year, presenting no strain on the facility. The record 10 cubs not only created demands for new housing but also hiked up feeding costs to about $700 a week for these bruins, Leaver said.
"We never saw the 10 coming," she said.
Fortunately, donations helped take the bite out of these expenses.
A lot of work goes into preparing injured or orphan cubs for the wild, where despite the financial investment in these bruins, they can encounter danger, mostly from man. But Leaver said, Woodlands is able to track the animals through collars or other devices and therefore it knows that none of the rescued bruins have been in trouble over the years.
Although all of the animals rescued have been the subject of a hunting season at one time or another, Leaver said their fate in the wild is not her focus.
"We have to concentrate on giving them the best possible chance to live in the wild," she said.
And she especially likes the teamwork that Bloomingdale police and rescuers were able to orchestrate to move Broke Leg Bear toward a happy ending.
