A family in the RM of Rockwood is close to achieving their dream of building Manitoba's first bear cub rehabilitation facility.  Judy Stearns says the idea behind the centre is to give cubs a safe place to grow during their first summer before they're released in the fall.  Stearns notes at the present time, orphaned cubs are either left to fend for themselves in the wild or they're killed or perhaps placed into captivity. She says Manitoba is one of the few provinces with a bear population that doesn't have a dedicated bear rehabilitation centre, adding she and her husband have been thinking about doing something like this for several years now.  

Stearns notes the animals under their care will have minimal human contact, because the bears need to stay wild and not get habituated to people.  She adds everything will be in the best interest of the bears.  Stearns says they're in the planning process right now and they have a great team of people working with them----including Zoocheck Canada, Dr. John Beecham, and well-known TV personality Bob Barker.  She notes Barker will be contributing fifty thousand dollars to their project, adding when they learned of the donation it felt like they  had won the lottery.  Stearns says she's always been a fan of Barker's because he is such an animal lover, so they're very grateful for his help.

She notes they're working with the province and the RM to meet all the necessary criteria for the rehab centre and they hope to be up and running next spring.  Stearns adds now that they have all of this extra support the facility can be even larger, which will be great for the bears in the end.