Hope Swinimer’s springtime to-do list is one that any cottager will be familiar with. She’s getting quotes for fencing, finalizing drawings, and securing permits. Her first guests should arrive by late spring or early summer, but these visitors won’t be staying in bunkies. Swinimer’s guests will be orphaned black bear cubs, the first to take advantage of a rehabilitation centre that’s been a decades-long dream.
Swinimer is the founder of Hope for Wildlife, a charitable wildlife rehabilitation and education organization based in Seaforth, N.S. It has helped more than 300 species since opening in 1997, but always lacked the capacity to care for bears. “We wanted to rehabilitate bears since we opened in the ’90s,” says Swinimer. However, doing so was fraught with bureaucratic and legislative roadblocks. The impetus for change came after the controversial euthanization of a young cub in 2020, and the government faced considerable public pressure to provide rehabilitation options. Now, Hope for Wildlife is fundraising $500,000 via GoFundMe to build a dedicated black bear rehabilitation facility.
When bear cubs are orphaned (often when their mother dies in a car collision), they need special care—and plenty of room. Cubs need space to grow and thrive without human contact. That’s why the new facility, with more than 100 acres, is designed to be free from human scent and sound. (The fundraiser cheekily says doing so will keep stress and human contact to a “bear” minimum!) Along the way, they’ve received practical and moral support from rehabilitation centres across North America. That, Swinimer says, “makes a world of difference.”
A day in the life of a Canadian wildlife rehabilitator
So how do wildlife rehabilitation staff care for vulnerable animals without interacting with them? Very carefully. Swinimer says that “When we care for any orphaned young animal, there is a risk of getting too personal, but we’ve gotten good at it.” One thing that helps is having more than one baby bear to care for. While it’s sad to think of multiple cubs needing assistance at the same time, the bears bond with each other and provide mutual comfort and enrichment, further reducing the need for human interaction. Some people mistakenly believe that the rehabilitation process can imprint them and make them too comfortable around humans, but Swinimer says: “There’s no proof of that.”
5 old-timey (and completely absurd) beliefs about wildlife
Educating the public on what animals need is what Hope for Wildlife does best. Bears are neither cuddly friends (with all respect to Paddington and Pooh), nor are they cold-minded killers (like you see in a scary movie). Bears deserve our respect and understanding that goes beyond the stereotypes. Swinimer urges cottage lovers to educate themselves on how to live comfortably and safely with wildlife. That means being diligent about food scraps, garbage access, and barbecue remnants so no animals are tempted to visit human dwellings. And when we go into their home—the woods—Swinimer uses the analogy of preparing for the grocery store. Before we buy groceries, we make sure there’s gas in the car and that we have a grocery list and shopping bags. Going out into an animal’s territory is no different. “We’ve stepped away from realizing that when we go into the woods and when we go into animals’ habitat, we should be prepared to go with a walking stick or a whistle… or maybe carry spray,” says Swinimer. “We should be prepared. We should know how to act. We should know if we come face to face with a coyote or a black bear, we should know exactly what to do. So preparation and education is key.”
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