First and foremost, the sites we are looking for must be in rural areas, due to the most common cause of death for dispersing cubs being traversal of busy roads. Consideration must also be given to what neighbouring land is used for/what the attitude of the surrounding landowners is. For instance, it’s no good for us to release a group of cubs into an area with a gun-toting farmer next door who will shoot anything with a pulse. For the same reason, we are unable to release in areas where shoots/hunts operate. You will obviously need to have a garden big enough to accommodate one of our release pens – minimum size of the pens is approx. 12x6ft, though we prefer to make them longer if the space is there.
You will need to be physically able to clean the pens out twice daily, as with a group of 5 cubs in each pen, mess accumulates quite quickly and it’s vital to stay on top of removal of waste/cleaning out and replacing food and water bowls to ensure a clean environment for the cubs. Pens should be cleaned out/cubs fed twice daily, and this will take approximately 30 minutes at a time, so you’ll need to ensure you are able to commit this time for the weeks the cubs are in your care. Obviously, a hands-off approach is necessary to avoid the cubs becoming friendly, which won’t do them any good in the wild, and during clean outs they will hide in a kennel in the pen and won’t need to be handled.
Cubs will be released around August/September time. Cubs will be in release pens for at least 4 weeks to allow them to acclimatize to the area before the door is opened/a frame removed to give them their freedom. All expenses such as bedding/food are paid for, and all cubs have been vaccinated against parvovirus, distemper and adenovirus. Once the door to the pen has been opened, the cubs are then free to come and go as they please, whilst they make their journey into the wild/establish their own territories. During this period, food must be continued to put into the pens whilst the cubs find their feet. We recommend trail cameras to monitor the coming and going of cubs into the pens post-release, which we are able to provide. Food is gradually reduced to encourage cubs to find their own as they get older/time goes on.
If you live in a rural area and have a garden big enough to accommodate one of our release pens/have the time to commit to fostering a group of cubs, then please get in touch as we would love to hear from you.
