Black Bear Rescue Manitoba

This is a story about discovering and living out personal purpose, the heroes in this case being Judy and Roger Stearns.

Judy and Roger .JPG — Judy and Roger Stearns

The event that kick-started their ‘purpose’ journey happened about 6 years ago, when a gentleman driving down a country road in southern Manitoba came across an orphaned black bear cub … which he took home. The cub became known as Makoon and made the local news stories.

When Manitoba Conservation heard the story, they confiscated the cub as it is illegal to possess wildlife without a proper permit. It is interesting to note that, had this cub just been given to Conservation straightaway, they would have shot it in the head. But with the news stories creating a lot of public awareness, Makoon was taken to the zoo and housed with another cub.

Judy Stearns, who as you can see in the photo above, loves and is loved by creatures of all kinds, became involved in advocating that Makoon be sent to Ontario to a proper rehab facility and then be released back into the wild in Manitoba. The Manitoba government would not agree to this, saying that Makoon could bring back disease to Manitoba … Sidebar: wild bears walk freely over the Ontario-Manitoba border all the time!

So Judy started a Facebook page and gathered close to 20,000 signatures requesting that Makoon be sent to Ontario; she presented her petition at the Manitoba legislature directly to the Minister of Conservation.

In what passed for their ‘best problem-solving thinking’, Manitoba Conservation then took Makoon from the zoo in the middle of the night and released him into the wild. This happened in June when Makoon weighed only 28 lbs., a certain death sentence with no mother to protect him from predators. This unnecessarily-cruel action caused a huge provincial uproar, even making the national news; Judy vowed publicly that Manitoba would see a rehab centre for orphaned bear cubs … and the Stearns’s personal purpose was born.

With clear purpose comes drive, and for about 18 months Judy went back and forth with some local rescues, trying to persuade them to include bears, but they did not have the resources to add to their current efforts, land and/or money being the issues.

One evening, as Judy and Roger were walking around their rural property, Judy feeling a little down for not being able to make much progress, Roger offered up an idea: “We have the land, why don’t WE do it?”

**AERIAL VIEW OF PORTION OF STEARNS PROPERTY ASSIGNED TO BLACK BEAR REHAB**

During the previous 18 months, Judy had become friends with Julie, a member of ZOOCHECK CANADA, who offered to help get a rescue set up. So naturally Judy let Julie know that same evening that the Stearns were willing to build one on their own property. And given that Julie is also friends with one of the best-known bear biologists in North America, Dr. John Beecham, the Stearns team quickly added this needed expertise to their team.

Judy informed Manitoba Conservation that they were going to build a bear rehab facility, and a meeting date was set up. Conservation provided her with a list of 7 criteria they would need to meet, such as Judy becoming a certified International Wildlife Rehabilitator, the Stearns acquiring liability insurance and a land use permit from their local municipality, as well as provide written protocols, a business plan, etc.

The ‘experts’ (now friends) Julie and John flew in for the meeting and when Manitoba Conservation walked into the room, the Stearns said you could see the amazement question “how did Judy pull this off?” right on their faces. Then Judy handed them her certification as a Wildlife Rehabilitator and the discussion became constructive. Roger says that with Dr. John Beecham there, it was just like having a beer with Bobby Orr!

Now Roger’s contributions came to the fore: being a Building Construction Technologist by training and trade, he started immediately after the meeting, as he did not need a permit to build a fence. He guided the provincial Land Use Board through the writing of a new land use definition and got the municipality to adopt it; then he applied for a land use permit, with public hearings being a part of it. As it turned out, the only people who came forward in that meeting stood up in favor of permitting the Stearns.

During the government meeting, Julie twice said that their bear rescue was going to be a world-class facility. After Manitoba Conservation left, Roger quietly asked Julie to define world class, as he had imagined salvaging some tin, like 1 green piece here, 1 white piece there, etc. Julie inspired Roger to share her vision and see that a “budget-to-build-from-new-with-labor-included” would be the next, best step towards achieving that vision. She said she would try to get someone to help with funding, then promptly went out and secured $50,000 from Bob Barker. The budget estimate turned out to be $175,000, land included. So the Stearns donated the land and the labor and basically completed the project for about $70,000.

In Year 1 they raised three cubs, seven in Year 2 and this year, Year 3, they are up to sixteen cubs … this after the government saying they should expect 1-4 cubs per year, with some years seeing none! After Manitoba Conservation dropped off another three cubs 2 weeks ago, Roger said to Judy: “that is enough, we need to add on another 9300 sq. ft.”.

Black Bear Rescue Manitoba now encompasses over 21,000 sq. ft. of which:

· 19,000 sq. f.t is open-air enclosure space

· 1,000 sq. ft. of covered and/or heated indoor space, and

· 1,000 sq. ft. of food prep and storage space.

They receive no government funding and so have created a registered charity with a board of directors. Roger’s role (BTW, he also has a fulltime job as a General Superintendent and superb leader for PCL crews) is to feed bears and to build, build, build.

He and Judy believe that it will never be acceptable to say they do not have enough space or to allow the government to euthanize cubs. Their long-term vision is to leave the property and facility in perpetuity to one of the universities for on-going studies. As of today, they have seven GPS tracking collars in the field following the travels of seven bears and are sharing their data with the government. That is about $25,000 in collar costs and tracking fees. The government gave them one collar!

This year, they received their first cubs on January 6; they were 2-3 days old and each weighed less than ½ lb. Izzy (oh yes, they name their bears!), pictured below, is currently 70 lbs.

The cubs stay in the house and are bottle-fed every 2 hours when they are that small. They cannot walk and their eyes are closed and require toileting after each feeding. Judy and Roger have kept cubs for up to a month in a cooler bag (a PCL one, of course!); hot water bottles keep them nice and warm and the bag nicely replicates a dark den.

They then progress to the heated pens once they can walk and their eyes are open.

Juniper, Jolene and Jasper

Feeding times progress to 4 and then 6 hours as they are being weaned. Weaning diet includes ground dog food, milk thickened with rice cereal and a mash made with blueberries and yogurt. Further along the mash is put on dog kibble and then the mash is removed when they have become accustomed to kibble … much like our progressions with our own infants.

Currently the cubs are all just on kibble, which Roger puts out once a week; in addition, they get produce thrown over the fence daily, about 2 lbs. per cub.

**SHOPPING IN THE FRESH PRODUCE SECTION OF THE STEARNS GROCERY**

In October, the females will reach about 120 lbs. and the males 160 lbs. (some as large as 190 lbs.). A wild cub at this same age would be 40-50 lbs. They are not just round like bowling balls, but because of the high protein, they are taller and longer than wild cubs. This fall will mark the 25th Stearns bear returned to the wild.

Richard Leider (author of The Power of Purpose) writes that a clear personal purpose is a “source of direction and energy”. At LeaderShare, we couldn’t agree more: the profound connection between vision and purpose is fully apparent in the life work of Judy and Roger Stearns … and if they are successful in bequeathing their facility to future caretakers and stewards, their vision and purpose will become their legacy. What wondrously meaningful lives!!!

Another tie-in to LeaderShare is that, like PCL, the bears have a Learning Tree. There they learn to climb and have fun like bears must do to become the best versions of themselves.

Please go to black_bear_rescue on Instagram or Black Bear Rescue Manitoba on Facebook to see more pix and videos. And of course If you wish to donate some help, then both pages have CanadaHelps tabs.