Tahoe The Cub Implicated In Black Bear Attack Of Cuteness

Tahoe the cub is probably the cutest bear that we’ve ever laid eyes on, and once you get a glimpse of the little sweetie in action, we’re pretty sure you’ll agree.

While we’ve been guilty of touting bear cuteness before — the hammock story and the one rescued from drowning by a brave swimmer come to mind — there’s just something about a cub that melts the heart.

Tahoe’s story starts out pretty harrowing. She was found by an anonymous do-gooder, who noticed her pining for her dead mother.

Unable to accept a similar fate for the little orphaned black bear, the mysterious rescuer drove Tahoe the cub more than 400 miles to the Bear League in California, where she was left “wrapped in a blanket,” according to Barcroft TV.

The Bear League staff immediately chose Tahoe as her name “after the great lake which sits beside the rescue center,” the channel states.

“We’ve had our little bear cub Tahoe just over two weeks now,” said Tom Millham, secretary and treasurer of Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care, when the Barcroft video was originally released in May of this year. “When we got her in, she weighed 5.4 pounds, and we weighed her two days ago, and she was 7.7 pounds.”

Officials plan to keep Tahoe the cub at the rescue center until next spring. By then, she should be strong enough to survive in the wild.

“Early December, we will put her into hibernation, and with eventual release hopefully to be sometime in late January or early February 2015,” Millham said.

Now that we’ve adequately prepared you for this little darling, brace yourself. She is cute, and you can’t say we didn’t warn you.

http://youtu.be/WknqFHdMXIA

The video you just watched has racked up hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube as well as many Likes and comments on Facebook.

A few are concerned about Tahoe’s ability to survive on her own in the wild.

Kathy Jerman states that she has “imprinted on humans.”

“How can you release her into the wild and expect her to live?” she asked.

Pamela Determan shares that sentiment: “After being so well cared for in the shelter, will she be able to survive alone, on her own?”

Good questions; unfortunately, we don’t have the answers on that, so we’ll have to defer to the experts presumably caring for her.

Do you think Tahoe the cub should be released back into the wild or gifted to a nature center?