Couple Has Fostered Over 100 Bear Cubs, Cares For Abandoned Infant Cubs

TAHOE (CBS13) — Two motherless infant bear cubs, Yreka and Blaze, who were rescued in the wild, are now being fostered by humans.

They were found alone in Yreka and are so young that in the wild, they would not be coming out of their den for another six to eight weeks.

The cubs are only four pounds each and just six weeks old. But this is not their foster parent's first rodeo.

"With these two, we've done over a hundred now since we started this program in 2000," said Tom Millham. "We've only had two others we've had to bottle feed so this doubles the number we've had to bottle feed. "

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Tom and Cheryll Millham run Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care. They say raising a baby cub is surprisingly similar to raising an infant human, except for the gloves required and the formula of evaporated milk and baby peaches.

But other than that, they still eat on demand.

The cubs scoot around before they can walk and they rely on their parents to teach the skills they need to make it on their own in the wild.

The cubs' past is a bit mysterious. They were delivered to Fish and Game by a rescuer, but no one knows what happened to the mama bear, or how her cubs ended up alone.

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In about a year the cubs will be released back into the wild. But for now, they are safe and sound in their foster "den."

The bears will be tagged and tracked for as long as the devices hold up. The Millhams say they have had great success placing bears back into the wild.