Viel Glück, Alaska Eisbärbaby! - Rescued from an oilfield....

Rescued cub/photo source

Nicht alle haben letzten Freitag die Hochzeit von Prince William und seiner Kate im Fernsehen mitverfolgt, so waren Mitarbeiter des Alaska Zoos aus Anchorage damit beschäftigt, ein 17 Pfund schweres weibliches Eisbär-Jungtier von dem North Slope nach Anchorage zu eskortieren, das mit einem Netz eingefangen und in einem großen Hundezwinger untergebracht worden war, nachdem es von Mitarbeitern des Alpine Ölfeldes in Prudhoe Bay am Dienstag alleine entdeckt wurde, ohne Spur von seiner Mutter und seines Geschwisters.

Shannon Jensen (links), Kuratorin des Alaska Zoos, und Rosa Meehan, eine Mitarbeiterin des U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service bei dem Transport in den Zoo/Photo: John Gomes

"Das Jungtier war zum ersten Mal vor sieben Wochen zusammen mit seiner Mutter und einem zweiten Jungtier beobachtet worden. Wissenschaftler des US Geological Survey hatten die Muttert eingefangen und sie mit einem Sender versehen, um ihre Wanderung überwachen zu können. Leider hatte sie aber das Halsband mit dem Sender bald wieder verloren."

Während der Suche nach der Mutter, war auch das Jungtier zunächst kurzzeitig wieder verschwunden. Donnerstag, nachdem es wieder gesichtet wurde und es immer noch keine Spur von seiner Mutter gab, entschied sich das Fish and Wildlife Service zu seinem Fang. Da es bereits Pläne für solche Situationen gab, in denen Eisbären durch die Arbeiten auf dem Ölfeld betroffen sein sollten, war es möglich, schnell zu handeln, um den kleinen Bären zu retten.

Wie lange das untergewichtige Jungtier bereits auf sich selbst gestellt war und nicht mehr von seiner Mutter gesäugt worden ist und was zur Trennung geführt bleibt weiterhin ein Rätsel, genauso wie die Frage, ob seine Mutter und sein Geschwisterchen noch leben. (mehr Details auf dt. bei UlliJ)

I would take her in immediately...))/Photo: John Gomes

Wanted: A zoo for an orphaned polar bear cub that was rescued at an Alaska oil field

Officials from the Alaska Zoo in Anchorage were helping to escort the 17-pound cub from the North Slope, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Friday. The female cub, estimated to be at least 4 months old, was herded into a net and kept in a large dog kennel, said Rosa Meehan, the Fish and Wildlife Service marine mammals manager in Alaska.

"It was initially shaking from the stress, but it settled down and has been resting quietly," she said.

The cub will stay at the zoo until a home is found, said zoo office manager Heather Schaad. The zoo already has two polar bears and four other bears and doesn't have the facilities to keep the cub permanently, Schaad said.

The cub was captured at the Alpine oil field and fed a commercial puppy milk replacement fortified with whipping cream to meet her nutritional needs, Fish and Wildlife officials said.

She was first spotted after emerging from a den with her mother and a sibling seven weeks ago, Meehan said. Researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey had captured the sow and her cubs and put a radio collar on the mother.

"Unfortunately, the collar slipped off a few days later," Meehan said.

The cub was spotted again Tuesday, but she was alone, orphaned or separated from her mother. Alpine operators contacted the Fish and Wildlife Service, which asked them to conduct an aeriasearch for the mother, Meehan said. Operators are required to notify the agency whenever they see the far-north animal.

After the search wrapped up, the cub was gone. Then she showed up again Thursday, and Fish and Wildlife coordinated plans with the zoo to collect the bear.

Agency officials said the zoo already has an arrangement in place with North Slope operators to respond to any oil spills affecting polar bears. So rescue plans came together very quickly, Meehan said.

It's unknown how long the underweight cub was by herself without food, or what actually happened to her mother and sibling. One thing that's unlikely is that a subsistence hunter from the nearest community—the Inupiat Eskimo village of Nuiqsut—shot the mother. Only Alaska Natives are allowed to hunt polar bears, and they are required to report their subsistence harvest to the Fish and Wildlife Service. Agency biologists contacted the village and learned that no locals have taken a polar bear recently.

There are several possible scenarios that could have led to abandondonment. The mother might have been in poor condition and unable to care for the cubs. Or the cub might have gotten separated from her mother in a storm, or if the mother was trying to protect the cub from an adult male bear. The mother and the other cub could be dead or alive.

"We don't know what happened here," Meehan said.

The Alpine field is operated by ConocoPhillips.

"We were just pleased to be able to rescue this polar bear cub and put it in the hands of U.S. Fish and Wildlife," company spokeswoman Natalie Lowman said. "We really appreciate our alpine employees because they have a real commitment protecting the wildlife that we coexist with on the North Slope."

Pat Lampi, Zoodirektor des Alaska Zoos bei seiner neuen Aufgabe.../Video & Photos: John Gomes

Himmel, sie ist wirklich klein für 4 Monate, hoffentlich schafft sie es. Wir wünschen der Kleinen und dem Zoo bei seiner Aufgabe hiermit alles Gute!

Good luck to the staff of Alaska Zoo, and all the best to the little curious cutie!!!

Sources & photo credits:
- Polar bear cub rescued at Alaska oil field/ MercuryNews 29.04.2011
- Eisbärenjungtier in einem Ölfeld in Alaska gerettet/ Ulli J's Eisbärblog 29.04.2011 (dt.Übersetzung des Original-Artikels)
- Das gerettete Eisbärbaby/ Ulli J's Eisbärblog 04.05.2011 (mit 2 entzückenden Videos, with 2 lovely videos!)

- Photogallery with John Gomes' pics of the cub at Alaska Zoo