TOWNSEND, Tenn. — Appalachian Bear Rescue (ABR) is asking for donations after a bear cub was taken in with burns on its face.
The organization posted an update on social media on Saturday, saying several concerned people reached out to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, the Gatlinburg Police Department and ABR about an injured cub seen in the Gatlinburg area. The nonprofit said due to the Thanksgiving holiday, staff members from all three organizations were taking time off and traffic in the area was extremely heavy.
According to the post, a ranger from the Great Smoky Mountains National Park Service was closest to the cub and volunteered to respond. After the bear was captured on Friday, it was then picked up for transport to ABR.
The bear cub was taken back to ABR to spend the night until it could be taken to see a vet on Saturday morning. The group said the bear drank bear milk replacement formula and slept in the cub nursery.
The bear was taken to the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine the next morning to be examined by doctors. According to ABR, the bear is male and around 10 months old, placing it around the same age as the other 29 cubs currently being cared for by the organization.
ABR said the cub was anemic and emaciated, meaning the bear was malnourished, weighing in at only 9.92 lbs.
"To put that in perspective, the curators believe Rags Bear, our second smallest cub, now weighs about 30 pounds (13.61 kg)," ABR said.
According to the rescue group, the cub was also found to have wounds on its body and burns on its face. These burns could have been suffered as long as two weeks ago. Despite these injuries, ABR said doctors believe the bear cub has a good chance of surviving and could enjoy a good quality of life when it is returned to the wild.
"He was discharged into ABR’s custody with prescriptions for deworming medication and antibiotics," ABR said. "He'll be living in two rooms in Hartley House, next door to Scruffy, Rags, and Crockett. Please welcome Phoenix Bear!"
Phoenix slept around the clock since his rescue, with curators choosing not to disturb him unnecessarily, according to the rescue group.
"Phoenix is in a precarious state, but we hope he'll gain enough strength to begin eating regularly," ABR said.
The rescue group also said despite the burns on the cub's face, his eyes don't seem to be affected by the injury. The group has currently raised over $4,700 for Phoenix.
ABR held a live update on Facebook on Monday, bringing attention to a new issue within the group's facility.
In 2023, there was a bacterial strep infection outbreak at the rescue center that caused six bears to fall ill and three of those bears to die, according to Dana Dodd, executive director of ABR. Dodd said no bears have died from the infection in 2024, but bears in the same enclosure as the previous year have tested positive for the same strain.
She also said all five of the infected bears seemed to be improving every single day, despite the positive test.
"We happened to notice that one of the bears in enclosure four seemed to be breathing differently," Dodd said. "So we took some very immediate action and we are confident now that all of the five bears in enclosure four — all of them are improving."
Dodd said despite this being the same infection that killed three bears last year, she is confident that things are going in a very positive direction.
"All five bears are doing better every day," Dodd said.