Two bear cubs, orphaned when police shot their aggressive mother, have still not been found.
The search for the little bears has been taken over by the Langley-based Critter Care Wildlife Society, which has set live capture traps in the Maple Ridge neighbourhood where the bears were last seen.
Gail Martin, the founder and executive director of Critter Care, said the greatest threat to the baby bruins is likely a male bear.
"Without a mom, and without getting them into care soon, a big male could kill them," said Martin.
"We need to get them as soon as possible."
A male bear's instinct is to kill cubs, to make their mother again receptive to mating.
The Conservation Officers Service searched for the bears on the ground and with a drone, after they were left orphaned on June 12. It was shot in the area of Abernethy and 224th Street.
Police shot the mother bear Thursday, after she had swiped a woman on the side of the head. The bear was in a residential yard getting into garbage when the woman came across her. Ridge Meadows RCMP found the bear still in the yard, and say they shot it in the interest of public safety.
They are young cubs, born this year, likely four to five months old. That would put them at about 15-20 pounds, and not yet weaned off their mother. Martin said they would likely cry for their mother, and give away their location.
"They cry like a baby. It's sad when you hear it," she said.
She said if the body of their mother had not been removed quickly, the cubs would have stayed in the area.
Anyone who sees or hears the cubs to call the RAPP line at 1-877-952-7277. Critter Care can be reached at 604-530-2064.
Cubs are shy and comparatively easy to raise, said Martin, and Critter Care is able to raise them to 18 months and release them back into the wild where they can thrive.
"That's about the time their mother would boot them out," she explained.
