In 1997, NIWRA made the decision to construct and manage a bear program for Vancouver Island Bears. In doing so a captive bred bear (Knut)  came to the center to help us perfect the design and operation of our facility for the care and feeding of these animals, to study their hibernation habits and to control their overall environment and human contact.

When NIWRA gets a call that a bear cub is coming there is a sense of excitement. When the cub arrives the visitors lucky enough to be at the center get to share in this excitement until the cub is taken into our treatment center. Once there the cub is weighed and checked and put into quarantine for 24 hours. If we have another cub at the center we can then begin to introduce them to each other.

The cubs are fed a concoction of goat's milk, cottage cheese, puppy milk replacement and puppy chow, vitamins and rice pabulum four times a day until they are old enough to start eating more natural foods. This would include berries and fish - we often hide their food to make them hunt for it just as they would in the wild.

The bears are on closed circuit TV 24/7 for the public to view - because we want to release them back to the wild they must be kept away from all human contact.

At present we have twins Patty and Carl brought in Sept 2014 who are doing well and will be released this year, and Charlene who is also due for release in 2015,  and our resident bear Knut who's been with us since 1996.

On May 23rd a new cub was brought to the centre and will be raised with Helen who was brought in by conservation officers in April - they are about the same age and tragic as the death of the latest mother and twin, it's better to have the two babies raised together. They can bond and grow together towards release. They are both doing well but will need a lot of care and attention. You can help us provide our bears with food, shelter and care with your donations.

You can read more about us and the work we do at www.niwra.org

Thank you to all of our supporters!