“We now have 30 black bears,” says Dean Oswald, owner of Oswald’s Bear Ranch in Newberry, Michigan. “But it’s the cubs that get the most attention, since we allow our visitors supervised visits in the cubs’ cage and they can take photos. Families love the interaction with the young bears.”
The cubs are so cute, big balls of thick black fur with inquisitive eyes and lots of playful curiosity.
“All of the bears may have the wild still in them, but you can handle a cub while still small, maybe 80 pounds, during its first year,” says Oswald. “Raised inside our home, they are comfortable with humans. Often we get them as young as 6 to 8 weeks.”
Calls come in from the Department of Natural Resources or from other wildlife professionals when they find abandoned cubs or injured bears. Oswald’s first bear rescue occurred 25 years ago and the ranch has been growing ever since.
Now there are four large, securely fenced natural habitats for the adult bear population. They are separated by wide paths, going uphill and down, around the quarter-to-half-mile perimeter of each enclosure. Since the fences are very high, photo platforms have been located at three of the habitats.
“Black bears grow to 700 pounds, so we give them plenty of room to roam in woodland and meadow habitats,” Oswald says. Recently, Black Bear Falls was added to give the adult bears a water feature for play and a place to cool down in the summer. Lucky for us, it provides another great photo op.