A BEAR SOW is seen eating apples from a tree in Lincoln on the day last month that the animal was shot and injured by a local hunter. The bear had to be put down, leaving its two cubs orphaned. Several Lincoln residents are troubled by the incident.
Photo courtesy of Veronica Rhodes

LINCOLN — Lincoln residents and wildlife officials are looking for a black bear cub that was recently orphaned after a local hunter shot and injured the bear’s mother.

The young sow was shot on Sept. 21 and had to be put down, Vermont Game Warden Dale Whitlock told the Independent.

“(The hunter) shot a sow, and it was a mother that had been raising two cubs all summer, and all the locals had been watching the cubs grow,” he said. “While it wasn’t technically illegal for him to do that, it wasn’t ethical.”

It is not illegal to shoot sows with cubs in Vermont, though the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department discourages hunters from doing so and offers information on how to identify female bears with cubs. Vermont’s bear hunting season began Sept. 1 and ends Nov. 24.

  Black bear cubs are born in January and are dependent on their mothers until they are about 16 months old. Cubs travel with their mothers until they can survive on their own, around the second spring after they’re born.

The mother bear shot in Lincoln had been raising her two cubs in the area for several months and was well-known amongst locals.

“Throughout the summer we’ve seen two mama bears, each having two cubs, and we’ve kind of watched them,” Lincoln resident Mary Beth Cardeira told the Independent. “We saw them a lot throughout the summer.”

On the day the sow was shot, Cardeira said her husband heard hounds in the woods and a gun shot. A couple hours later, a cub came into Cardeira’s driveway crying.

“I don’t know if it was related or not, but we saw this missing cub and then we thought, ‘Oh, something happened,’” she recalled.

The couple later heard coyotes yipping nearby and suspected they’d made a kill. Cardeira said she later read about the incident on Front Porch Forum and put together what happened.

“I was heartbroken,” she said.

Cardeira noted that she and her husband are not against hunting, “It’s just the brutal, inhumane way that this incident happened,” she said. “I wish there was a law that hunters can not kill baby cubs and mothers.”

Other Lincoln residents are also upset by the incident.

Veronica Rhodes said safety was a main concern of hers, as the incident took place near the Lincoln village.

“We’re not in the woods here, we’re in the center of town,” she said. “Safety was a huge concern, and also just in general, morally, why somebody would shoot a sow knowing and watching these bears all summer and spring.”

Rhodes noted members of her family are hunters, but she takes issue with how this incident unfolded.

“To me it was just strange that that’s legal and that anybody would do that,” she said.

Rhodes and other Lincoln residents have been keeping an eye out for the bear cubs and helping inform Whitlock of the little bears’ whereabouts as he tries to rescue them. More recently, locals have only been able to spot one of the cubs.

LINCOLN RESIDENTS AND wildlife officials are trying to locate a black bear cub that was recently orphaned after its mother was shot in town. Locals are keeping an eye out for the bear, so it can be caught and taken to a rehabilitation center.
Photo courtesy of Veronica Rhodes

Whitlock said it’s believed the second cub died, though he’s uncertain. He’s working to capture the remaining cub so that it can be taken to the Kilham Bear Center in Lyme, N.H., for rehabilitation.

He noted that it’s likely the bear cub will not be able to survive on its own, though sometimes nearby sows will adopt orphaned bear cubs.

“It’s not very often, when a cub is estranged from its mother another sow in the vicinity may adopt it and we thought maybe that was the case a few days ago,” Whitlock told the Independent this past Friday.

The bear cub had been spotted on a trail cam with another bear close to where the orphaned cub had been previously sighted, though Whitlock said the cub hasn’t been seen with other bears since.

Whitlock was still trying to rescue the bear cub as the Independent went to press on Wednesday.

The game warden noted there are a couple of takeaways he hopes hunters keep in mind following the incident. He offered hunters this message:

“One definition of integrity is: doing the right thing even when no one is watching. This is crucial regarding hunters. Hunting is an activity that relies on the ethics and care that hunters employ in their lawful pursuit of game. There are often no witnesses in crimes against wildlife. Wildlife cannot testify against those who do them harm; the animals cannot speak or advocate for themselves. Thus, it is imperative that humans care and speak up. Hunters must strive for safe, ethical shots; stay present; and always be aware and respectful of any life they are about to take — whether or not anyone is watching.”

He pointed to some of the benefits of hunters taking their time, including being able to spot a bear’s cubs and avoid shooting a sow.

“You’ll never regret taking your time. Even if the game slips away, at least you never make a mistake whether it’s mistaken identity of game animals or worse, a hunting accident,” Whitlock said. “Take the time to really enjoy and love nature. We’re living in a world right now where we need to really foster that love and respect for our flora and fauna.”