A Case Report on Rehabilitation of the Asiatic Black Bear ( Ursus thibetanus ussuricus ) in the Wild

Wildlife rehabilitation restores distressed animals to a condition suitable for survival in the wild. For endangered Asiatic black bears ( Ursus thibetanus ), this might represent not only a humane intervention but also a strategy for conserving vulnerable populations. However, techniques for subadult and adult bears remain poorly tested, despite increasing anthropogenic and natural threats at the northern edge of their range. We describe the in situ rehabilitation of a starving 2‐year‐old male bear in the Russian Far East. Due to an anomalous autumn food shortage, the bear was forced to over‐winter near a settlement in an atypical den. It left this den periodically in February because it lacked sufficient fat reserves. We provided supplemental feeding over 3.5 weeks, which allowed the bear to recover and move away from the settlement. Our techniques can serve as a model to rehabilitate bears under extreme conditions, such as exhaustion, low temperatures, and food scarcity.