Grandfather Mountain welcomes Boomer
By Frank Ruggiero

Carolina may be smarter than your average black bear.

She knows full well that the white bucket contains a delectable mixture of peanuts and apples, but after spotting Christie Tipton and Naima Montacer, both Grandfather Mountain animal habitat staff members, Carolina, 8, remembers her top priority.

At the sign of danger, she emits a series of low, staccato grunts, and her young cub Boomer, though honing his tree-climbing skills, comes scooting down the trunk to his mother’s side.

Though it may be snack time, Carolina’s foremost desire is to protect her four-month-old son. Once his safety is ensured, there’ll be plenty of time to satisfy her 275 pound case of the munchies.

While Tipton and Montacer toss handfuls of peanuts over the chain-link fence separating Carolina’s habitat from the employee access area, young Boomer retreats to his den.

Snout to the ground, Carolina laps up the peanuts, broken shells clinging to her thick coat. The nutty binge continues for several minutes, until Boomer makes his presence known with a human-like whine. In less then a second, Carolina has forgotten about the peanuts, turning her back on Tipton and Montacer and running to her cub’s rescue — even if he only wants to be saved from a lack of attention.

Tipton and Montacer share a chuckle and set the white bucket down, waiting for the hairy duo to return, which they will. After all, peanuts and apples are too rich of a delicacy for Carolina to pass up.

The mid-day meal is known as an enrichment, a little something Grandfather Mountain habitat staff gives to the animals to break the monotony of smiling for the cameras. For the bears, it’s peanuts and apples. The cougars get sardines and an occasional basketball, while the otters sink their teeth into a bucket’s worth of trout.

After a moment, Carolina and Boomer emerge from their den. Boomer prances playfully behind his mother as Carolina zeroes in on Tipton, Montacer and, most importantly, the white bucket.

While Boomer frolics, Carolina stands on her hind legs, planting both front paws on the chain-link fence. Though Montacer holds the bucket behind her back, Carolina is no pushover. She tilts her head to look around Tipton, who is standing in front of Montacer, trying to catch of glimpse of her enrichment.

Though Boomer lets out the occasional cry to grab his mother’s attention, Carolina knows he is safe and concentrates, instead, on the enrichment. Boomer temporarily fends for himself, watching curiously as birds swoop into the habitat to grasp peanuts that somehow evaded his mother’s jaws.

Boomer will eventually have to fend for himself full time, as he’ll be released into the wild after a couple years. This is Grandfather Mountain’s policy for cubs, as repopulating the black bear population in North Carolina is paramount.

“All of the cubs that are born here are released into the wild,” said Tipton, assistant habitat manager, adding the bears usually find a home in Pisgah National Forest.

It will come as no shock to Carolina, as they usually bid their offspring farewell after the second year anyhow, Tipton continued. Boomer has never met his father, Kodiak, a cinnamon-colored black bear, though they share some resemblance. In fact, visitors often confuse Kodiak with a grizzly bear, Montacer said.

Though Boomer is not cinnamon-colored in complexion, he bears (no pun intended) a faint white “v” on his chest, much like his father. Carolina and Boomer are kept in a two-acre habitat, separated from the other bears, as Kodiak would not recognize his kin, deeming the cub a threat to a potential mate and unknowingly killing his own offspring.

To further prepare Boomer for life abroad, Tipton and Montacer face the difficult task of being mean to the young cub, as they want to instill in him a fear of humans for his own safety.

“We do our best to keep them scared of us, chasing them around and up a tree,” Tipton said. “From us, they’re given no attention, except to chase them around. They’re strictly raised by their mother.”

Sometimes, though, cubs, particularly the male ones, can cop an attitude as they grow older.

“They sometimes get an attitude like, ‘I’m not afraid of you,’ and they’ll walk towards you. But they’ll run away when you run at them,” Tipton said.

Tipton and Montacer explained that black bears aren’t as dangerous as perceived in the wild. If people encountersa black bear in the wild, they should try to make themselves look big and yell. This, however, won’t work with a mother and her cubs.

Boomer weighs about 15 pounds, though newborn cubs weigh only six to eight ounces, Montacer explained, saying Boomer is somewhat big for his age as he’s an only-child.

“So, he’s a little bit chubby,” Tipton said. Boomer is still on mother’s milk, but eventually he’ll move onto chopped-up portions of the standard Grandfather Mountain bear diet, which consists of apples, carrots, lettuce, sweet potatoes and a special omnivore mixture. In fact, black bears are 85 percent vegetarians in the wild, Tipton added.

“They’re (cubs) a lot like human babies, and when they’re being raised, they need a lot of attention,” Tipton said, mentioning that Carolina can be a bit over protective at times. “She’s a good mama. She loves her babies.”

Typically, a black bear litter is comprised of one to five cubs, though Carolina’s previous litter consisted of only one, as well. Kodiak, for lack of a better word, is the stud of the bunch. Once Boomer is released into the wild, he and Carolina will be reacquainted that summer in the main habitat.

“He’s our only male, so he gets to have a lot of fun,” Tipton joked.

Though Boomer, named after Boomer, N.C., was born  at Grandfather Mountain, in lat January many of the bears, including Carolina, were purchased from Bear Country U.S.A. in South Dakota. Carolina was about three months old when she came to Grandfather, and was hand-fed by staff to ensure her kindliness, though as any staff member will say, even the tamest black bear retains some of its wilder tendencies. To name the bears, habitat staff members circle around a map of North Carolina and choose a town or city name that seems befitting.

There are now ten adult resident bears at Grandfather Mountain, so it’s just as well that Boomer will be released into the wild, as room is growing tight. And more peanuts in Carolina’s belly will make space tighter in her own den.

Though Tipton and Montacer know Carolina has eaten a bear’s share of enrichment, Carolina is not yet willing to accept this. Walking back and forth along the fence, standing on her hind legs and mournfully moaning for more, it takes an interruption from Boomer to divert her attention.

The young cub, now at his mother’s side, stands on his hind legs to seemingly embrace her. Once Tipton and Montacer have turned their backs to return to the habitat staff hut — and once Carolina’s certain there will be no more peanuts and apples today — mother and cub return to their own den. After all, Boomer has a lot of growing up to do, and there’s plenty of enrichment to go around tomorrow.

For more information, call Grandfather Mountain toll-free at 1-800-468-7325 or visit www.grandfather.com on the Web.

• Frank Ruggiero may be contacted at ruggiero@wataugademocrat.com.