Meet Lucky – Born 2007
“Lucky was born in 2007 in the wild of Wisconsin, and had a rough start on life. Lucky was orphaned at a young age; nobody knows exactly how or why this happened. He was first observed rummaging through backyards in suburban Wisconsin looking for food. A homeowner of the neighborhood, where Lucky was found, reached out to a rehabilitation center in Minocqua, Wisconsin. He was assessed at the center and deemed to be a nuisance bear unfit for release into the wild. It was then determined he needed a forever home or to be put down. Without any place to send Lucky to live out the rest of his life, Wisconsin DNR officials decided that they would euthanize Lucky.
A news station ran a report about this little bear cub that was about to be put down and soon many other news stations were running similar stories. Not long after, a large public outcry was heard on Lucky’s behalf pleading not to have him put down. The North American Bear Center had opened in May 2007, a few months after Lucky was born. When news of this cub made it to Ely, Minnesota (home of the bear center), we happily said we would be Lucky’s forever home.
He arrived at the center in July, 2007. The staff chose the name Lucky as he was “lucky to be here, and we were even luckier to have him.”
Lucky is the eldest bear here at the North American Bear Center. He gets along well with one of the other ambassador bears and not so well with the other bear. Holly bear, our eldest female ambassador bear, gets along well with Lucky most of the time. In fact, most years they do couple-up during the mating season. Lucky doesn’t get along as well with our other female ambassador bear Tasha. He is tolerant of Tasha, but regularly rejects her advances during the mating season. This is very unnatural behavior of a male black bear, as in the wild, a male would happily mate with any female bear.
Lucky has now fully-matured into a very curious and playful bear. His antics have earned him the title “comedian” of our ambassador bears. He enjoys climbing trees, swimming in the pond, and playing with any objects he gets his paws on. His sweet personality and comedic antics has endeared him to staff and guests alike, and he has quickly become a fan-favorite to our supporters around the world.
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