After nearly five months of being treated and rehabilitated after being injured during the Cameron Peak Fire, a yearling bear was returned to its natural habitat earlier this month.

Landowners on Buckhorn Road, northwest of Masonville called Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) on Dec. 7, 2020, and reported seeing an injured cub. CPW officers responded, but wouldn’t successfully locate the cub until Dec. 11.

The cub was suffering from old burns on its feet sustained during the Cameron Peak Fire, — the largest ever in Colorado. Its ears were frostbit, it was covered in cockleburs, severely dehydrated, weak, starving and only weighed 16.3 pounds, according to the CPW release.

“Most animals don’t survive the myriad of injuries they are exposed to, let alone be found, captured and treated successfully,” said CPW Area Wildlife Manager Jason Duetsch in the release. “He definitely would not have made it through much longer. It is the smallest bear cub I have ever seen at that time of the year, which helped us make the decision to try rehabilitation.”

The cub was brought to CPW’s health lab in Fort Collins and examined by a team of veterinarians including Dr. Pauline Now and Dr. Karen Fox and Duetsch, and despite the fact it was lethargic, they believed the cub had a chance to survive.

“Since the foot injuries on this cub appeared to be healing well, and his other wounds were very treatable, we felt that with supportive care and nourishment his prognosis for recovery was good,” said Dr. Nol.

Officials used heating pads to keep the cub warm, while constantly monitoring his temperature, breathing and heart rate. He was given supplemental oxygen while under sedation.

During the sedation, the team of vets removed the cockleburs, cleaned and bandaged the bear’s feet, treated his frostbite, and administered pain medication and fluids.

Although his ears were treated for frostbite successfully, portions of them were removed because of increased exposure, which is not uncommon, CPW official said in the release.

Officials are not entirely sure when the cub was orphaned or when he received the burn injures, but evidence of the new tissue indicated it happened a while before he was captured.

The cub was moved to Frisco Creek, which is a rehab facility in southwest Colorado that annually rehabilitates orphaned bear cubs with the goal of returning them to their natural habitat, while limiting interactions with humans at the facility.

Typically, bears will arrive at their facility in the summer or early fall months and release them prior to winter, so they can survive its first hibernation. However, with this particular cub, due to its dangerously low weight, he was kept awake the entire winter so he could eat and gain weight by spring.

By the time the bear was released back into the wild on May 5, he weighed 93 pounds.

While the efforts of the veterinarians and rehabilitation staff were vital to the bear’s survival, Kristin Cannon, deputy regional manager for CPW’s northeast region, said the bear’s resilience is what kept him alive.

“This bear’s drive to survive did most of the work and we just gave it a little boost,” Cannon said in the release. “This bear went through an awful lot in its first year of life, let’s hope humans can now help keep it wild by not rewarding it with our food sources and lowering its chances of survival.”