This Malnourished Bear Cub Gladly Jumped Into This Rafting Guideâ€™s Boat For Help

by N/A, 10 years ago | 4 min read

Recently, a 5-month-old bear cub was spotted several times on the banks of the Nolichucky River near the border of Tennessee and North Carolina. The cub appeared to be malnourished abandoned by its mother, without protection or a means of finding food

Fortunately, rafting guide Danny Allen was in the right place at the right time and went to shore to pick her up. He was a weary of her being skittish, but when he got up to her, the bear cub, desperate for some care and affection, jumped right in.

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After having seen her alone previously, days in a row, Allen picked up the abandoned bear cub from the side of the Nolichucky River and brought her to the USA Raft Company.

The raft company's owner Matt Moses told the Knoxville News Sentinel, "We had seen this bear over the last four days, and there was no sight of a mama bear."

And it's a good thing they did, because the little bear cub didn't have long left to live with how underfed and dehydrated she was.

Moses went on, "She was obviously malnourished and appeared to be in distress. My guides kept coming back to me and saying they had no idea what to do. We didn't want to see this bear die on the side of the river."

Danny Allen recounts that when he paddled up to the bear cub, she jumped right into his raft.

"We picked her up and brought her down here. Very skinny for her size, for the age she is, she should have been twice her size," he toldÂ WVLT News.

Matt Moses told the Knoxville News Sentinel, "We see bear fairly often, but we've never seen anything like this. This is the first time I've ever heard of a bear getting in a raft." Immediately, they called the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

The starving cub was taken to the Appalachian Bear Rescue for rehabilitation and nurses began to care for her right away.

Dana Dodd of the rescue told the Knoxville News Sentinel, "She was very dehydrated, and the doctors gave her fluids."

Her caretakers named her Noli after the Nolichucky River, where she was found. Noli was given a thorough examination where doctors discovered that she was, in fact, a girl.

Dodd continued on, saying, "She will have to stay in the acclimatization area until we can't see any more of her neurological conditions, like dehydration and possibly heat stroke."

"It may be a week or so. We have to be sure she is hearing, seeing, and climbing well."

"She likes grapes and applesauce. Those things are great for her because they're filled with water."

While Noli appears to be making a steady recovery, Dodd said that she will need to gain at least 50 pounds before she's deemed healthy enough to be released into the wild.

In the meantime, Noli is content with her grapes and around-the-clock VIP care.

The Appalachian Bear RescueÂ posted on Facebook, "Noli Bear's story has circulated around the world. We hope this serves to focus attention on black bears and the efforts...to help orphaned and injured cubs for release back to the wild."