WAYNESBORO, Va. (WHSV) — Bears in Virginia are born between December and Februrary, making January 17 the average birthday for bear cubs.

Wildlife rehabilitators at the Wildlife Center of Virginia, in Waynesboro, have a unique way to celebrate the one-year birthday of their bear cubs — They made a birthday cake with a layer of tuna, a layer of dog food and grapes, and a layer of pumpkin and strawberries, all covered with peanut butter frosting.

These ingredients, with the exception of the peanut butter, closely replicate the bear's natural diet.

"We're going to be supplementing it with peanuts and peanut butter, and that's just because they are still a nut, so while it's not a natural nut, it is their favorite thing and it's their birthday. So who doesn't want to have something special on their birthday?" said Brie Hashem, a wildlife rehabilitator specializing in bears.

The only problem? Not all of the ten bears at the wildlife center like to share.

"So our bears are not very good sharers, just like any animals that you have in a captive environment, there's generally dominant and submissive individuals, so the dominant bears will probably get more of the cake than some of our more submissive bears," said Hashem.

Don't worry though; every bear will feel special, because each bear gets its own gift box to tear open, containing each individual's favorite food.

Hashem says to keep bears out of your yard, make sure your trash and any food outside is safely secured. If you feed your pets outside, clean up right away afterwards and don't store dog or cat food outside, because bears love it.

Bears have a very strong sense of smell and are naturally drawn to any food source. She also says it's a good idea to take down bird feeders from April to October, when bears are not hibernating, and there are other natural food sources for birds.

Brie is baking (okay, making) a bear birthday cake today! Tomorrow, our cubs turn one-year-old. They'll get a three layer cake in the afternoon to celebrate. Here, Brie is preparing layers 2 and 3 (dog food/grape layer and pumpkin/strawberry layer). Time for cake assembly and adding peanut butter icing!



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gITNIZjq0Dw



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDtLfvm0q7s

That was awesome, thanks for sharing!

The Wildlife Center started taking in orphan cub bears when the VA Tech person retired some years ago leaving no one to take care of them.

They later raised money to build a bear complex and acquired land behind the Center which is National Forest. Here is a link to the Bear Complex:

https://www.wildlifecenter.org/black-bear-complex

Here is a link to the 2017 cubs:

https://www.wildlifecenter.org...black-bear-cubs-2017

They also have a yearly Call of the Wild conference for Wildlife rehabilitators, veterinary professionals, wildlife biologists, environmental educators, and wildlife enthusiasts from Virginia and beyond which share ideas and knowledge that can benefit wildlife, the environment, and the continually evolving field of wildlife rehabilitation.

https://www.wildlifecenter.org/call-wild-conference

The present locate is on land donated by DuPont. They have continued to expand since then and the bear complex is the latest addition. Here is a video of all the pens for various wildlife which you can click on and see the various housing for birds, deer, etc.

https://prezi.com/frohgsfguhnw...-center-of-virginia/

Wonderful to read about the Center, there is a local Wildlife Rehabilitor/Center near me (Danville, Va), but I don't think they have had any bear cubs.

I have taken several different injured animals to them, sadly , all the centers are stretched for funds.

Plenty of deer fawns, raccoons, hawks and owls.

Thank you for sharing with us

Ed Clark started the Wildlife Center operating out of three mobile home trailers in 1982.

Then in 1992, Lewis Garrett was responsible for getting DuPont to donate 7.5 acres for the present location.

They treat a lot of Bald Eagles from all over the State and then release them back from where they were found. I think Facebook has probably been the most helpful to them in raising funds.

The web cams help to give exposure on the work they do and get people involved.

The bear cubs are the most fun to watch.

There are over 7000 videos on UTube:

https://www.youtube.com/result...y=va+wildlife+center

just lookin' for those "bear" necessities.