Bubu, Orphaned Andean Bear
Cub
Bubu is a male Andean
bear
who was rescued as a cub by the Andean Bear Foundation. We
believe
that his mother was killed, some time in early 2009, leaving him an
orphan. He was kept for a while in a private house, in
unsuitable conditions, then sent to another place which also did not
have space for him. Then Bubu was rescued and Quito Zoo very
kindly kept him in quarantine for several months. The zoo did
not really have enough space for Bubu, but at least he was safe and had
a proper diet and veterinary care.
Bubu was moved to a
temporary new home in the spring of 2010, where he lived while we
prepared the rehab cage up on the paramo.
We are very grateful to Bubu's temporary landlord, Sr. Kohn,
who took care of him, and also to the many friends who
donated to help us purchase the materials needed to repair the rehab
cage.
In June 2010
Bubu
was moved to
the rehabilitation cage up on the paramo at Hacienda
Yanahurco, where he learnt what to eat in the wild.
Bubu's
rehab cost about $35 a day and we are very grateful for the donations
we received to pay for this. Once he grew
large
enough and learned to eat the foods he will find in the cloud
forest and paramo, Bubu was ready to be fitted with a collar to track
his
movements and
released. We were hoping the
Ecuadorian Army would help us out with a helicopter as they did with
our last bear
liberation - see
the bear release video here.
The
attempt in December 2010 unfortunately
didn't work out as planned, despite their best efforts, but we remain
grateful for all the work and planning which went into it.
On 9th
March 2011, Bubu was liberated, thanks to the efforts of Yanahurco's
owner Fernando Cobo,
producers László Károlyi and
William McNamara, Boutique Hotel Café Cultura,
Exclusive
Hotels And Haciendas Of Ecuador, the film team Rene Aguilar, Carlos
Gabela, Gabriel Gonzalez and Anita Benítez, and others.
We
are very grateful to Esteban Saltos of ICARO for loaning the helicopter
and pilot Mario Acosta, who did a fantastic job under very difficult
circumstances. We would also like to thank our anonymous
supporters who prefer not to be named but are nonetheless very much
appreciated. We asked for Bubu to be
liberated in the
Cimarrones mountains, in a remote part of Hacienda Yanahurco.
Unfortunately, a month
later, Bubu
found his way back to Yanahurco ranch and for his own safety, we had no
choice but to treturn him to his rehab cage. He has
shown
that he has can survive on his own and has been finding enough food in
the wild. We were surprised by Bubu’s return, and
wondered
how he had found his way back, but enquiries revealed that he was not
left in the remote location where Armando instructed but, due to bad
weather, the pilot was forced to select another spot
“nearby” to leave Bubu. Since there was
not space in
the helicopter for Armando, and none of the occupants of the helicopter
are familiar with Yanahurco, they did not realize that the spot they
chose is a destination for tourist groups on horse rides from
Yanahurco. For Bubu with his sensitive nose, this was the
equivalent of being left by the motorway – a clear route
straight
back “home”, and only 6km away rather than the 21km
we had
requested. For a male Andean bear, a walk of 6km is nothing at all, an
afternoon stroll, so Bubu obviously chose to investigate his
surroundings for a while before coming back. It is a
compliment
to his keepers that he seems to regard Yanahurco as a place of
security.
Wild bears
only put on weight at certain times of year when there is excess food
available, which doesn’t happen often. We always
fatten
bears up before liberating them, to give them a good start in the wild.
In all the successful liberations we have carried out, the
bears
have lost weight, built muscle and are now living wild, free and
slender as nature intended. Bubu has proved that he will do
well
if he is only left somewhere suitable, and we are more determined than
ever that he has a future as a wild bear. We continue to
learn.
Every bear is different and this gives us the opportunity to
improve the way we handle liberations in the future.
Bubu was liberated again
in September
2011, but returned just a few weeks later. We had hoped he
would
be left undisturbed in his new home for a while, but a group of
tourists headed out that way very soon and a couple of days later, Bubu
was back. He's now back in his cage and we are working on
arranging a larger helicopter to be able to release him in a more
remote area.
Bubu has his own
profile Bubu
Bear on Facebook and has made many friends around the world
who
help and encourage him and us on his journey. Many thanks
to them all. Thanks to Dawn Edwards, you can
also find Bubu's photo gallery on Flickr.
Bubu organised a Big Event
to
raise awareness of the Andean bear. He asked his
friends
to organise a social event anywhere in the world, any time between 1st
and 4th October 2010, tell their guests about Andean bears and about
Bubu, and send us photos of it. Friends also joined us online
and
the event was a great success. Bubu challenged his friends to
take this quiz about Andean bears
as a fun way to spread the word. All the information you need
for the quiz is here
on this website, but if you want to check, download the Andean bear quiz answers.
You can download a PDF of Recipes
for Bubu's Big Event, sent in by friends using ingredients
that Andean bears like to eat.
If you enjoy the recipes, you might like to make a donation
using
one of the methods suggested below.
Ways to help
the ABF
rescue, rehabilitate & liberate Andean bear cubs:
Buy from Bubu's
Zazzle Store
Select from t-shirts,
mousemats, coffee mugs, keyrings and many more
products featuring Bubu and other Andean bears. The profits
go the Andean Bear Foundation, who will use them towards the costs of
rehabilitation of orphaned cubs and their release back to the wild.
Make sure you use these
links to Bubu's Zazzle Store USA, Bubu's
Zazzle Store UK, Bubu's Zazzle
Store Canada or Bubu's Zazzle Store Australia, in
this way the ABF will receive a
referral bonus at no cost to you.
Donate Online
Donations
to support
the work of the Andean Bear
Foundation can be made online,
using
PayPal - just click on the button on the right and we will know that
the money is for cubs like Bubu. PayPal charge us 2.2% +
$0.30 per
transaction from within the USA, or 3.9% + $0.30 from outside the USA.
If you prefer you can enter PayPal through your own account,
rather
than the button below, and on the send money page, click Personal, then
Gift, then opt to pay the fees yourself rather than having them taken
out of the donation. Whichever method you choose, we end up
closer to being able to free Bubu or another Andean bear than we were
before.
Many
thanks for your help!
The other online option
to donate to orphaned cubs like Bubu, if you have a Facebook account,
is at our "Save
Orphaned Andean Bears" Cause.
which takes a flat processing fee of 4.7%. Other
Causes users will be able to see your name and
the amount you donated. Thank you for
your support!
Buy yourself a Bubu
bracelet
Online gift store Into the
Wild designed an acai
bead bracelet with bear charm especially for Bubu's friends
and they donate $5 to the Andean Bear Foundation for each one
sold. Fans of Into the Wild on Facebook get
discounts.
Bubu,
Orphaned Andean Bear Cub
Save the bear cubs! Donate to the Andean Bear Foundation to
help us get other bear cubs like Bubu back to the wild where
they belong.
