Fundraising Projects

Additional Property

When the Idaho Black Bear program started in 1989, we were in the country. Today, we are sandwiched between housing developments. Although our 2.40 acres have been sufficient in the past, we have only one chance left to keep us from being surrounded. The property to our West is still pasture and undeveloped. However, our neighbor is pressured constantly to sell for new housing projects. Although IBBR considered moving when the last housing development came in, Sally decided it was to our advantage to stay where we are.

There was a strong reason to stay in this location for the bears. For so many years it was believed bears couldn’t be raised by humans and successfully released. There are still a limited number of rehabilitators working with bears. However, when you have Ben Kilham raising orphaned cubs in the ideal setting of the New Hampshire woods and Sally Maughan raising cubs between housing developments in Idaho, it very definitely says something about the myth that bears can't be raised by a human and successfully released.

Purchasing this property is a chance to provide displaced wildlife with a small haven from the huge amount of habitat lost to the housing developments. It also means we won't have houses on all sides of us, and would give us the room to develop other areas of the bear program, such as education and perhaps hosting extended visits by interns, biologists, students, etc. At today's price for acreage in this area, it is a huge pipe dream to imagine we could afford to buy those six acres at a cost of $40,000 to $50,000 an acre. We have one very strong thing in our favor. Native Americans say if you have bear medicine, you have the power of introspection. With the power of introspection you can make your dreams and goals a reality. We definitely have plenty of bear medicine!

Small Cub Transport Carrier

Cubs usually don’t try to escape the plastic vari-kennels we use to transport them from out of state to IBBR, but once in a while you get that cub who is determined. Transport team Larry & Teri Limberg are very experienced at transporting cubs, both inside the truck and outside on the truck bed. However, you can imagine the nightmare involved if a cub were to actually break the door or side panels of the plastic vari-kennel and escape into the cab of the truck. We nearly had that happen a year ago so now we are looking for an aluminum transport crate similar to the one you see on the truck bed above. That one is used for transporting yearlings that are big bears. We are looking for one similar in size to a medium plastic kennel made of aluminum with some modifications to insure the cubs stay inside for the several hours of driving to IBBR. With the necessary adjustments, costs will vary from $500-$800 including shipping. We can also use this transport carrier when transferring cubs of the year from smaller enclosures to the next larger one and finally to the main enclosure.

We also need to build another long haul transport carrier just like the one above on the transport truck. We have 3, but our truck will hold 4. When we are transporting yearlings back to their home state for release in can get too warm for 2 bears to be crowded into each carrier. A 4th carrier would allow us to transport 4 bears comfortably for the long drive home. Cost for a welder to build the larger transport carrier will be approximately $1500 depending on any labor or materials donated.

For both projects, if we can find a welder in the Treasure Valley who could donate some or all of the labor, it would save money to put towards bear food. IBBR would pay for any materials not donated.