Orphaned Bear Cubs Get New Home In NH
LYME, NH (CBS) - New England's only bear sanctuary has some new additions.
Two baby bears were trapped Thursday and brought to Ben Kilham's property in Lyme. Their mother had been hit by a car, leaving them orphaned.
The bear cubs are the 11th and 12th cubs brought to the sanctuary this spring. That's about double the number of bears Kilham usually takes in.
''It's a labor of love'', he says. "But this is extraordinary. It's a lot of extra love."
Kilham says the large number of orphaned bears is probably linked to the warm spring. In a normal year, they would have frozen to death. Instead they get a second chance on Kilham's eight acre enclosed refuge.
The bears will stay with him for a year and then be released to the forests of Northern New Hampshire.
Kilham takes in bears from New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Vermont. He doesn't get paid and relies on donations and his own money. Each cub costs about $1,500 to feed, house and care for.
He says the large number of bears is a stress, but he's fascinated watching them interact.
