First few people in the world
who spent more time with Bayers
than Ben Killam Killam has lived
with and among bears for decades,
devoting his life to researching
and rehabilitating them.
20 Sevens Beth McAvoy went to
visit the Killum Bear Center last
week for a very special day. Hey
Beth, hey guys, yes, I headed up
to the woods in New Hampshire,
and there I got to meet my first
bear and Ben. And as Ben told me,
most people will never remember
the first deer they see.
But you will most likely definitely
remember the first bear,
and that was very true for me.
Up in the hills of Lyme, New Hampshire,
you'll find a sanctuary for bears
we have in residence. A young cub,
that of the year that was hit by a car.
These are our newest Cubs,
orphaned American black Bears that is,
Cubs. Come to us.
One of the big ones is moms
are shot at chicken coops.
They come in all year round.
A lot of people are just
absolutely fearful of bears,
which is no reason to be at all.
Cubs need the guiding care of
their mother for the 1st 18 months
of their lives. Without them,
they have no chance of surviving.
We control bears because
they're so driven by food,
food to a bear is like money to a person.
We wouldn't scatter $100 bills
all over our lawn and expect
nobody to pick them up,
and that's what we're doing
with food attractants
and bears. But here at
the Killem Bear Center,
there are 30 Cubs, and they are all
given a second chance. Guys, sorry guys.
Yeah, don't be scared.
Don't be scared, Cubs get food
protection and an education.
Well, they were once thought
to be solitary animals.
Kilian's decades long research
has shown the opposite.
There are an awful lot like us,
but we see them as aliens.
Together they make friends,
form alliances and even abide
by a code of conduct that
keeps their world orderly.
They're getting a social education
and that that means that they're
interacting with other bears that
are not related to them, and they.
Part of what I learned about the social
behavior bears is, they share our.
Social behavior they're able to make friends
with strangers and cooperate with them.
Ben's nephew Ethan Killam is the
cub's primary caregiver to the Cubs
who came in at a very young age and
who don't remember their own mothers.
Ethan serves as a surrogate.
Ethan will start walking
them loose in the forest.
They follow them like a mother bear.
They're like any child.
They're curious,
and they're having innocence where they're
looking at the world through new eyes,
so it's always refreshing.
Either go out into the woods or walk
into their world because they're doing
it with such pleasure and engagement.
That yeah, it's contagious.
When these cups are ready,
they'll graduate from the cub
barn to where they long to be
outside an 11 acre enclosure,
rich with natural foods,
sits on a hill above the center,
protected from danger.
There, the Cubs will grow until
they're 18 months old and ready
to be released back into the wild.
It's gonna be
tough because you're not
gonna know what's coming
on this day. That's what's happening.
First they have to be caught in the
enclosure to be released and catching bears,
it turns out, is a tricky business.
You don't want to be chasing them hard.
You don't want them running all around,
but you you can use your
approach to kind of guide them
towards somebody who's stationary with
a dart gun and get get a good shot.
Members of the New Hampshire fishing
Game Department and the US Department
of Agriculture are here to help.
Signal everything they're
going to do or thinking about,
and they don't attack anything or
anybody without a motive or reason.
And bears are afraid of people.
I mean, bears run when they see a person
after less than an hour.
The team has a bear.
Ethan instantly recognizes this bear.
Is Ruben. He names all the
Cubs that come to the center.
Neck is cow lick so the fur
goes in the other direction.
A veterinarian is on hand to make sure
each bear responds well to the anesthesia.
Ruben is weighed given oxygen and ear
tagged after an hour of monitoring.
The 148 pound yearling is ready to be moved.
You know, once he starts.
Coming to, he'll start moving
around and just himself is needed.
And the good news is, you know,
this bear is already starting to come out so.
He'll be ready to release and
you know a couple couple 3 hours
of the Bears rehabilitated
at the Killem center.
Some were taken,
you know in the first hunting season,
but the number that are taking
quickly is about the same as the
wild population we get bears in
with our ear tags on them that
are 10 years old that have had
multiple litters of Cubs,
and some of them are very near
the release areas and others
are 100 or 150 miles away.
People feel their.
Dangerous, you know.
They're they're wild animals,
all wild animals you should.
Keep your distance from and and treat
you know. Treat as unpredictable,
but bears really aren't dangerous
by the end of a very long day,
Rubin, along with three others,
are released into the wild. Come on.
Then kill him hopes his life's work
will give people new insights into black
bears and make them realize in some ways
they're more like us than you think.
The most important animal and
understanding our past lives among us.
And we can learn a lot just
by being around black bears.
And and being able to to be
with them and understand them
and not be fearful of them.
Kilian's been featured in several
wildlife documentaries and is the author
of two books in both of those books,
he's written about his 26 year long
relationship with a cub named Squirty.
She was one of the first Cubs that
been rehabilitated and she used to
follow him around every night from
spring till fall he drives to his
local study site to observe bears
and there he regularly sees Squirty.
She's had 23 Cubs now and Kim
told me he can still change her
collar without sedating her.
He just bribes her.
With a few cookies
we love, I love that line about how.
Food is to bears as money
is to humans. It's true it's
true, and his point is, you know,
don't go scattering too much bird seed.
The killing Bear Center is
not open to the public,
but they have an amazing Instagram
where they post lots of videos and we'll
have a link to that on our website.
Just capulus I love it.
Thank you. Beth, you're welcome.