Spring and summer are always busy for wildlife rehabber Nancy Limbach. This year, the executive director of the Pauline S. Schnegas Wildlife Foundation says that she's been getting even more calls, with dozens of bear cubs ending up at the facility.
By October 14th, Limbach's small rehab center in Silt was caring for 32 baby bears, compared with the five to nine cubs it typically takes in over a year. 2026 has been a tough year for Colorado's bears. Colorado Parks and Wildlife recorded more than 8,600 bear-related sightings and incident reports through August, more than twice the number reported during the same period last year.
The agency also euthanized nearly 300 bears, up from 83 last year. For Limbach, who runs one of two CPW-licensed rehab facilities in the state, this has meant an influx of cubs who are too underweight to survive upcoming hibernation. She says the cubs started arriving earlier this year, as a spring freeze wiped out much of the bears' natural food supply.
" The bears were starving sooner, and I know they keep blaming it on the drought, but what started this whole thing is the fact there was the freeze that killed everything," Limbach explained.
Without the summer's fruits and with the acorns already gone, bears are faced with no choice but to travel into towns and neighborhoods where they can find food.
"There's nothing for fall food, and the mothers usually know where everything is in town, so they just bring their kids to town and introduce them to trash cans," Limbach added.
At the rehab center, the focus is getting the cubs ready for winter. They must gain enough weight to move into hibernation pens, where they'll den for several months before being relocated. It's a process that requires an enormous amount of food.
"We're right now going through, oh, a little over 2,000 pounds of fruit a week, and 1,000 pounds of high-quality dog food a week," Limbach said.
Keeping up with the demand has become a challenge. Limbach says grocery stores used to donate produce they couldn't sell, but are now sending it to compost instead. And while a Palisade orchard donated peaches throughout the summer, that supply has run out. Now Limbach is trying to get apples to the bears.
The freeze damaged the local crop, so her supplier has been looking at various options, some from out of state.
Even with donors covering the cost, delivery has been a challenge. Limbach says the supplier struggled to find truckers willing to make the trip because of high diesel prices.
But fortunately, community members have been stepping in. They drop off leftover garden produce, acorns, and food assistance organization Lift Up has also donated food. The cubs recently feasted on carved pumpkins donated from Sunlight Mountain Resort leftover from its skier appreciation picnic. But food is only part of the expense of caring for an increased number of bear cubs.
Because the cubs arrived earlier than usual this year, the center has had to expand its enclosures at an additional facility near Sunlight Mountain to free up space at the main center.
Volunteers have helped with construction, but the center keeps direct contact with the bears to a minimum so they don't become accustomed to people.
Limbach and her two veterinary technicians handle most of the daily bear care. The cubs need to reach about 50 to 60 pounds before moving into hibernation pens, usually by late November. They'll spend several months there before Colorado Parks and Wildlife relocates them.
By January or February, the bears are moved from their dens into transport cages, loaded onto snowmobile sleds and taken to release sites, where they're placed in snow caves. By then, they're about a year old or slightly older.
Bears that don't put on enough weight to hibernate before the end of November will spend the whole winter at the rehab center, where they'll be fed and likely released in early summer. While bear cubs may have been the most show-stopping residents this summer, they're only part of the workload.
For Limbach, late nights and long days have always been part of the job. More bears just mean more work. "So we just have longer days," she said.
And bears aren't the only animals at the center. "Currently, we also have four fawns, four or five beavers and at least 100 raptors," she said. "So they have to be taken care of, too."
Limbach says volunteers and donations have helped meet the demands of this unusual year, but she hopes it won't become the new normal. If it is, though, she'll be prepared.
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