KCAW - Public Radio in Sitka, Alaska

Veterinary team makes quick work of grizzly neuter

Robert Woolsey

Image by Robert Woolsey

Veterinarians Burgess Bauder (l) and Jack Thornton work on Chaik, a two-and-a-half year old brown bear.

SITKA, ALASKA (2009-06-15) A pair of orphaned brown bear cubs captured two years ago has settled into their new home at an exhibit in Sitka called “Fortress of the Bear.”
With a steady year-round diet, the cubs have grown large for their age. Both are somewhere between three- and four-hundred pounds, and they could easily be mistaken for four-year-olds.
This summer offered an opportunity to neuter the brothers, before they reach sexual maturity. And managers at the Fortress last Thursday (6-11-09) decided to seize it.