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The expression “hungry as a bear” didn't come out of nowhere.
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Black bears eat a lot when they emerge from hibernation a month or so later and are quite thin, and when they are fattening up to go back into hibernation in the fall.
Bears With Us, Ontario's largest bear rescue centre, provides care for injured and orphaned black bears. Bears consume large amounts of food, especially dry dog food, sometimes more than once a week.
Point Grondin's two bear cubs, named “Wikie” and “Mukwa” by their rescuers, are pictured on their way to the Bears With Us rehabilitation center near Sprucedale in late May. Photo by Ella McIntosh
“Food is one of the largest expenses for most wildlife rescue centres,” Ontario Wildlife Conservation said in a statement. “While some pet food companies donate expired or spoiled dry dog food, it is difficult and expensive to deliver food to wildlife rescue centres across the province.”
So a local trucking company made a big change.
Manitoulin Transport recently delivered six tonnes (12 skid loads) of food to Bear With Us, located between Gravenhurst and Parry Sound.
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Over the past two years, Manitoulin Transport has delivered 34 tonnes (69 skids) of food to feed black bears at a rehabilitation facility in Muskoka.
Other centres have also benefited, including Turtle Pond in Blazer Valley. Carriers have delivered 421 skids (210 tonnes) of food and medicines at no cost to 23 wildlife rescue centres across the province, including Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Barrie, Cambridge, Cornwall, Huntsville, Kingston, London, Ottawa, Pembroke, Peterborough and St. Catharines.
“Manitoulin Transit's generous support has significantly increased the number of injured and orphaned wildlife rescues we've been able to provide,” said Sandy Donald, director of Ontario Wildlife Rescue.
sud.editorial@sunmedia.ca
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