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Saturday, August 26, 2006 Mama bear, three cubs crash birthday party in parkRio Communities It was a beary exciting evening at Timan Park.
It's not clear how long the bears were in the park, but New Mexico Department Game and Fish Officer Donald Garcia suspects that the mother and her three cubs made their way up from the river bosque in search of food. After an exciting rescue, the bears were relocated to the Manzano Mountains. Elisha Olguin, who was sitting on a swing in the playground, was the first to see the bears. The 24-year-old Jarales resident said as she swayed back and forth, she noticed something in the trees at the north end of the Rio Communities park. "I was swinging, and I saw, like, two black figures in the tree," Olguin said. "I asked myself, 'Wait a minute, who's up in the tree?' I stopped swinging and walked up a little closer and there they were — two bears up in the tree. I had never seen anything like this before." Olguin, confused and in shock, quickly walked back to the parking lot when she saw Bosque resident and birthday party-goer Rucilla Pino in her car and told her about what she saw. "I couldn't believe it," Pino said. "My daughters got here and we all walked down there and, when they got closer, I stayed back — I was too scared. But when they got down there, the bear made a noise and we all started to run back." Seraida Welch, Olguin's daughter, said she couldn't believe it when she heard there were bears in the tree. "We looked up and there was the mama and her two fat little babies — they were so cute. When we looked up, she growled at us and spit. It was like a bad dream, we couldn't run fast enough. "They were so beautiful but I think we scared them more than they scared us," Welch added. "When they saw us, they climbed higher into the tree." After calling New Mexico Game and Fish, Olguin drove to her grandparents' house and told them about her discovery. She said at first they didn't believe her. "Who would?" she said. "I never thought I would see two bears in a tree this close to civilization. I was just like a deer caught in the headlights." When Jaramillo arrived at the park only minutes after receiving the call, he had everyone stand a safe distance away from the bears in the tree. While waiting for backup and the necessary equipment, Jaramillo, along with two sheriff's deputies, Alan Montaño and Nick Wheeler, walked to the tree to assess the situation. The branches began to move and the mama bear could be seen poking her nose through the leaves to take a closer look herself. It was clear she wanted no part of them. As word got out about the surprise visitors, more and more people gravitated to the park to watch. Armed with binoculars, cameras and video recorders, spectators couldn't believe their eyes. From only a few people in the park Wednesday afternoon, the crowd quickly grew to several dozen. As a precaution, Jaramillo and the deputies evacuated the park not only for the bear's safety but the public's as well. Because mother bears are very protective of their offspring, they will protect them at any cost, Jaramillo said. "We just need to be careful. Its unusual to have bears in Belen, but for the past five years, we've had either a bear or a lion show up every year," Jaramillo said. "I'm not sure what brought them here, but having these open garbage cans could have lured them to the park. Maybe something was left from a barbecue or a party yesterday." When additional game and fish officers arrived, a closer look revealed that there were more bears than could be seen up in the tree. There were a total of four — three cubs and their mama. In the beginning, Jaramillo and his colleagues decided to wait them out, hoping that they would eventually come down on their own. But with the sun setting and traffic slowing at a snail's pace on the Manzano Expressway as curious motorists stopped to examine the situation, Jaramillo determined that snatching the bears from the tree would be their best bet. The plan to rescue to animals involved a ladder truck provided by the Belen Fire Department. Atop a 75-foot ladder, Jaramillo shot the mother bear with a tranquilizer gun. A few minutes later, the 150-pound animal fell about 30 feet and landed on an air mattress laid out below. Unhurt, she was tagged and carefully carried into a mobile trap. The next three rescues were a bit more challenging. One by one, the baby bears were plucked from the tree, carried down the ladder truck and placed in a cage separated from their sedated mother. The last cub to be saved gave Jaramillo a harder time as it leaped from branch to branch, trying to escape. It wailed and cried and grabbed for the railing on the ladder. But in the end, all four bears were safe and secure and ready to be relocated. Jaramillo said that the bears most likely chose Timan Park because it's pretty secluded at night and they felt comfortable walking up the wash to the area. "Come daylight, they probably figured that, rather than trying to walk across a busy street, they'd just hang out in the tree," Jaramillo said about his guess of how they got to the park. Jaramillo said he was confident that they could get the mother out of the tree but, without the help of the fire truck, it would have been very difficult to capture the three young cubs. He said everything went pretty smoothly and he is happy that none of the animals, rescuers or onlookers were hurt. The bears were taken to the Manzano Mountains early Thursday morning and released. Jaramillo said he had to wait until the mother was alert and sitting up before she was allowed a reunion with her cubs. "When we released them, the mother came out first," Jaramillo said. "She (the mother bear) waited around until all three of the cubs came out. We watched as they walked together into the woods." Jaramillo explained that, if officials spot the mother and the three cubs again in a populated area, they will probably relocate the family to a remote area of the state.
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