Orphaned bear cubs ‘progressing well’ says Black Bear Rescue Manitoba
Posted April 20, 2026 5:59 pm.
It’s been three weeks since a mother black bear was shot and killed in her den in Balmoral, leaving three orphaned cubs.
Those distressed cubs were taken to Black Bear Rescue Manitoba for rehabilitation, and thankfully, the organization says they’re progressing very well after the trauma of losing their mother.
“Yeah they’re doing good, and the little male bear who was most distraught over losing his mother, he’s doing good he’s really turned a corner in the last week, and he’s eating much better, and they’re starting to play a little bit which is always a big milestone, when cubs who arrive are traumatized and they start to play that means they’re settling in and getting over their trauma so they’re doing really good,” said Judy Stearns, the president and owner of Black Bear Rescue Manitoba.
CityNews was asked not to film the cubs, and Stearns says that is because of a strict rehabilitation protocol to keep them away from humans as much as possible while in care, so when they’re released by next fall, they’ll be ready to take care of themselves in the wild.
“The whole end goal is to have these bears acting as wild bears and behaving as wild bears by the end of the season, and they do, and so we just have minimal human contact, minimal different people, so we have the same keepers for them,” Stearns explained.
As for the investigation, a statement from the conservation officer reads, “There are set fines for an offence like this, but in this case, the accused would be issued an appearance notice to appear in court in front of a judge. The maximum penalty for this type of offence is $25,000 fine and/or six months imprisonment or both.”
Meanwhile, Black Bear Rescue is doing its part to bring the culprit to justice. Thanks to an outpour of online support and donations, they’ve set up a cash reward for anyone with info.
“We’ve had people all over the world donating, and that’s what actually prompted us to offer the reward because people were commenting online publicly that they wanted to donate for a reward, so we put the reward together, and yeah, we have $10,000 sitting there for anyone who calls in with a tip that leads to a conviction,” said Stearns.
While she wants nothing more than the person responsible for the killing to be brought to justice, she says her main focus is continuing to make progress with rehabilitating the orphaned cubs.
“They’ve transitioned from being fed from a syringe with a special nipple on it to a bowl, so that’s a big milestone, and yeah, just smooth sailing right now with them, which is great,” said Stearns.
