Quarantined Bears Get Icy Respite from Heat at Oakland Zoo

A female black bear and her three cubs were transferred to Oakland Zoo from the care of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife Wildlife Investigations Lab on June 20 after the animals broke into a Kern County home.The zoo posted video on Friday, June 23, showing the three cubs and the sow playing with ice in their new home.State policy normally does not allow for large adult animals to be place into captivity, but the case was “a sequence of unique circumstances,” according to a press release.The mother bear and her cubs broke into a home in Pine Mountain Club on May 15. The mother bear charged and swiped at the home’s elderly resident, causing an injury to her left arm. The woman was treated at a local hospital and is recovering.Policy normally requires that a black bear that is known to have attacked or injured a human be euthanized. The cubs, though, had yet to be weaned from their mother. The cubs were to be rehabilitated and released, while the mother was to be euthanized, but the cubs had become habituated to humans.The Oakland Zoo then requested to take the three cubs and their mother for its California Trail exhibit, which is scheduled to open in 2018. The CDFW supported this strategy.The download link provides a music-free version of this video. Credit: YouTube/Oakland Zoo via Storyful