Normal life and a very distressed bear cub

We are getting back to the swing of normal life, albeit with an extra dose of vigilance about fires. Shyla has returned to normal after her seizure-like event the other night. 

We've been enjoying our morning outings with the lots of yellow flowers to make us smile.

We've taken a little break from the intensive nosework and general training I'd been doing with Shyla, just to let her chill out. I hope to get back to it soon.

For me, part of normal life is getting back to following our wildlife. Given the heat and lack of rain, it's not surprising that the water holes are the most active bear areas right now.

Yesterday, when I checked one cam, I replayed the videos it had recorded as I stood next to the water hole, and I heard the most extraordinary noise - it sounded like a very distressed bear. I saw enough footage to know that it was the sow ("Mabel") and her cubs from the den last winter.

At first, I assumed that the noises were the mother bear fighting with another sow who has been encroaching on her territory, "Dot". I know that Dot has one cub, based on past footage, and I also know that Dot has been marking trees like crazy within Mabel's territory. Mabel is older and bigger, and she could kick Dot out of the territory if she wanted to do so. That would not be abnormal behavior.

It turned out that I was wrong with my initial assessment from a tiny LCD screen on the back of the trail cam. In fact, it was a cub making that extraordinary noise - it appeared that he had lost track of his family. Here is the video which you can watch here or at Youtube.

As often is the case, I don't know yet how this situation turned out. I hope that the chocolate cub found his mom. I'll let you know if I see the family together on any of my trail cameras.