Bear rehabilitator ben kilham biography

Once free, the orphaned bears still regard him as their mother.

Bear rehabilitator ben kilham biography: Benjamin Kilham is a

One of these bears, now a year-old female, has given him extraordinary access to her daily life, opening a rare window into how she and the wild bears she lives among carry out their daily lives, raise their young, and communicate. Ben's work with bears, however, is just part of his story. Ben is dyslexic, which, for years, kept him from pursuing an advanced degree.

As a result, his work and rare insights into the social and emotional lives of bears went largely unpublished. In a review written about In the Company of Bears, Brock and Fernette Eide, authors of The Dyslexic Advantage write, "Kilham perfectly exemplifies how much the world has to gain from the exceptional insights of dyslexic individuals, who often possess a special talent for finding order hidden in the complex patterns of the real world.

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Bear rehabilitator ben kilham biography: Independent Wildlife Biologist - Licensed by

Tags Environment Animals. Sara Plourde. Only eight of the 30 hibernated, so it was like one long pajama party," he laughed. Cubs are born in January, but infood was scarce, so many adult bears ended up at restaurant dumpsters and back yards in search of food. Some inexperienced mothers abandoned their cubs, but half of the cubs I received were orphaned because their mothers were shot at bee hives or chicken coops.

It's too bad, because all the owners had to do was put electric fencing around those hives and coops, and the bears wouldn't bother them," Kilham said. Then, in the summer ofone at a time, the bears were sedated, moved and released to different areas of the state, mostly to northern forests. Ben Kilham has only one small cub born inbut expects to acquire a few more in the fall during bear hunting season.

Bear rehabilitator ben kilham biography: Kilham, founder of the

When asked how he communicates with and teaches the bears to survive on their own, he explained, "I don't have to teach them what to eat, it's instinctive. I walk them through the woods and give them the opportunity to learn, I expose them to the outside world. It's more passive teaching. The best thing people can do with their garbage is compost it.