A young bruin has been struggling in Upton’s deep snow, apparently unable to find a den for the winter.
UPTON – People weren’t the only ones affected by last weekend’s nor’easter and heavy snow.
The 40 inches of snow that fell in the Upton area stranded a black bear cub, says Richard Angevine, who met the young bruin Sunday while plowing East B Hill Road.
“When I was out plowing, this little cub bear came crawling up over the banks and went running across the road,” Angevine said Wednesday. “But then he swam back over the bank.”
Since Sunday, Angevine has seen the cub several times, floundering through deep snow along the road or walking in and along the road. That’s why he called State Police on Tuesday night, to alert a game warden in hopes of alleviating a possible traffic hazard or bringing about a rescue.
“They’re supposed to be denned up now, so either the coyotes dug him out of a den and he escaped and climbed a tree, or hunters shot his mother and he’s been roaming since,” he said.
Maine Warden spokesman Mark Latti said that the availability of food such as acorns and beechnuts determines when black bears den up for winter hibernation.
“When there is a lack of available food, like this year, bears will den up early in October,” Latti said Thursday. “But if there’s no snow over the food in the woods, they will be active into November and even December before denning up.”
Angevine said he tried to catch the cub once, because he doesn’t believe it will survive the winter.
“He came swimming up over a snowbank, and I reached out and touched his back, but then changed my mind real quick when I saw his teeth and claws,” Angevine said.
He believes the bear may have been the runt of the litter because of its small size. That’s also likely why it prefers walking on the road rather than trying to navigate the 40-plus inches of snow Upton got.
‘Can’t go nowhere’
“I don’t believe it weighs more than 40 pounds. I think probably that his mother’s been shot, and he’s roaming and this snowstorm messed him up. He hangs around in the road because he can’t go nowhere in the snow. He just swims around in it and the road is easier walking,” he said.
Latti said that if cubs are orphaned and wandering through the woods, they’ll den up with other bear families if they find cubs with a sow.
“But the fact that this cub is still out there with the way conditions are now, that’s not a good sign for the little bear,” Latti added.
Angevine said he will contact a game warden when he sights the cub again. He hopes the warden can catch the bruin in a trap so it could be transported to the Maine Wildlife Park in Gray.
“He’ll never make it through the winter unless we can find him,” Angevine said.
tkarkos@sunjournal.com
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