Bear News – October 28, 2023

All about sweet Tasha

Tasha’s current weight is 379 lbs. As of this writing she is in Den #3. She and Holly just switched places. Time will tell if they stay where they are. It sure is complicating the contest.

I mentioned in the last news that Holly had a nickname that some staff members call her. Our Tasha is known as the “little round one”.

Tasha was born to a wild mother in Kentucky. Her mother was hit by a car and died. Tasha was found by a man and raised by him until she was 17 months old. Tasha came to us on June 6, 2016. Read more about Tasha on her page.

She is the sweetest bear in our enclosure. Her playful manner and her desire to provoke Holly into play or at least a good chase, is exciting to see. She loves to sit in her tub and just watch nature. She also suckles her sweet foods, such as pineapple chunks, and hums while sucking her paws. Tasha is very food motivated and very seldom will turn down food.

Tasha’s gentle manner also teaches the interns the differences in personalities. Each of our bears have their own personality and except for being black in color with light muzzles, they are all different.

One of my favorite stories about Tasha is her interest in ravens. One morning she was sitting in her tub facing the gate. Around the top of the fence sat six ravens and one raven was standing on the ground in front of her. It was as if she were holding a council meeting. Upon hearing our approach the ravens flew but Tasha continued sitting in her tub.

Sometime later, Dr. Rogers had a Native American speaker at one of his bear courses. I was invited and told her about my encounter with Tasha and the ravens. She laughed and said, they were catching up on the gossip in the woods. I thought that was pretty appropriate. Believe or don’t believe it’s up to you.

Thank you for providing nuts and dried fruit for the bears from our Amazon Wish List. As you can see on the cams, we used the white clover seed for the bear enclosures, den tops and the main enclosure, the bears enjoy eating it.

Also thank you for the great season. It was a successful year for the bears.