GATLINBURG, Tenn. — For weeks, three young bear cubs have been in Appalachian Bear Rescue's care. All of them were siblings, and they were missing their fourth sibling after the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency euthanized the cub siblings' mother.
On Friday, Appalachian Bear Rescue said it found the fourth cub and took it into its care. The search for the cub started on July 10, when the rescue took in the three initial siblings. The TWRA euthanized the mother after she injured a person at a Super 8 motel in Gatlinburg, and the TWRA helped trap the three cubs.
ABR worked for 24 hours afterward to try and find the fourth bear cub, but the rescue said it scurried into an underbrush and away from the team.
"In the days that followed, ABR, TWRA, the Gatlinburg Police Department and many other concerned citizens looked. We drove around and around the area, sometimes during the day and sometimes late at night. We talked to people in the area, asking if anyone had seen the cub. We answered every call and followed every lead, but finding a bear cub in Gatlinburg is like finding a needle in a haystack," the rescue said on social media.
The fourth sibling had a chest blaze, which proved to be a vital identifying mark.
For almost a month, the rescue responded to calls about other cub sightings in the Gatlinburg area. However, Appalachian Bear Rescue said it was careful not to trap cubs that did not need to be cared for. It received calls about a small bear near Wintery Square and other calls about a mother bear and two cubs that had gotten into paint — marked with white streaks and roaming the area. On Monday, ABR also received five completely different cubs in a single day.
But on Thursday, the rescue said it got a big break. A person called and said he was looking at the fourth sibling. The rescue asked where he was located, and he said he was around 100 yards from where the cub was orphaned.
The caller also confirmed the chest blaze and said it appeared the bear may have gotten into some paint. The cub was in a tree, and the caller said he could wait until workers with the nonprofit arrived.
Workers with the nonprofit set a trap at the base of the tree and baited it would doughnut pieces and cake crumbs. Within minutes, the fourth bear sibling of a group of orphans had been trapped.
It was examined at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine, which found some ticks and signs of mild dehydration. Veterinarians also tried to wash the paint away, but some globs would not be removed with soap and water.
They trimmed the paint away from the edges of the cub's fur, and shaved areas of her face to get rid of the paint. The cub is female and weighs around 20.9 lbs. She will spend a few days in Acclimation Pen 3 taking her worm medication, before joining her siblings in their wild enclosure.
Her name is Special Sauce Bear, the rescue said.