Critter Profile: Maya!
Overview!
Name: Maya
Species: Ursus arctos syriacus (Syrian Brown Bear)
Primary Caretaker: Terrestrial Team, Alex Molina
Diet: Salmon, berries, beef, and chicken. (She loves honeycombs too!)
Housed: Wilson Wildlife Center, Enclosure 8
Creature Features!
'Maya' is our name for a beautiful brown bear we found terrorizing some clowns in a burning carnie tent up by the Clackamas County Fair. Now, I'm not too fond of clowns myself, but she really must have a bone to pick with them! So far she seems like a real timid young lady and mostly stays away unless you've got food or cigarettes. I don't know how a bear gets hooked on cigarettes, but I'm putting my money on a very neglectful caretaker. Shame on them!
As if a nicotine-addicted ursine wasn't strange enough, this critter's got a roar unlike any other! As a matter of fact, she doesn't have one! Whenever Maya here opens her mouth to make a sound, you'll be treated to Julius Fucik's 'Entry of the Gladiators!' It scared the daylights out of me the first time I heard it! Dr. Everett (our very own LAIM1 vet) says it's some kind of 'aural-biological anomaly', but I just say it's Maya's unique way of expressing herself!
Now, I don't know if the other things Maya can do are weird by the standards of the Supervisors, but they sure are weird by bear standards! She can ride a unicycle like no other, juggle rocks and other small objects, and Alex says he's even seen her walking on her front paws! What a talented bear, Maya is!
History!
Maya scratching an itch. Look at her glistening fur!
When we first got ahold of Maya the poor girl was wearing a raggedy old tutu stained with gosh knows what and a nasty old hat, and to make things worse her fur was all matted and messed up! During her initial vet visit, we also found she was missing some teeth and had a bunch of scars. It was so heartbreaking to see her at first. The folks who had her before were a bunch of heartless monsters if you ask me! We tried asking the clowns she was chasing if they knew anything about her, but they were happy to see her gone! They said she was no good to them anymore and was better off dead. But we weren't going to give up on her!
Taking care of Maya was very difficult at first! She was a rude young lady and didn't want to cooperate with anyone, and she'd try to attack caretakers with cigarettes in their pockets. We managed to get her outfit off of her and give the poor girl a bath, which it looked like she appreciated after the fact. Getting the mats off of her was a chore, but we're very lucky that Maya came to trust Alex. Maybe its because he always fed her the salmon chunks and was really nice to her, or maybe because he takes a smoke break every few hours, but she's taken a real liking to him.
Even though she's still a little shy around people, Maya has come a very long way! Those circus folks sure weren't nice to her, and sometimes it shows. She gets scared if someone claps or yells too loud near her, and she absolutely hates chairs! Even though she's still got a bit of a fix for smokes, we hope to have her clean by the end of the year. Maya's ongoing recovery is one of our proudest accomplishments here at Wilson's Wildlife Solutions, and she's a shining example of what a little love and care can do for a critter!
Special Needs and Accommodations!
Enclosure 8 was specially built to house a bear like Maya! It's got plenty of space for her to run, climb, and even swim in! It took us a while to get it right, but we also built her a little cave for when she needs some alone time. Since we're currently trying to get her off of her smoking habit, Alex is in charge of applying some custom made nicotine patches as needed. And of course, no clowns are allowed near Maya!
Goodness, it feels silly to say that.
Notes about Maya!
Though it looked like we were making good progress with Maya, she had an issue with Roger on 7/25/2018 when he was taking care of her in place of Alex. Alex was out that day on personal matters, so we chose Roger to step in because he also smokes! We figured the scent might make Maya be calmer, but boy were we wrong. She came at him like a bat outta heck and tackled him down! We thought Roger was a goner, but he managed to scurry out of her enclosure in the nick of time. Roger was real spooked, but we couldn't make heads or tails of why Maya attacked him in the first place. He thinks its because he worked as a rental clown to help pay for college, but that doesn't make a lick of sense!
Just when we thought everything was getting back to normal a few hours later, Stella over in the observation room noticed Maya was acting really strange. The poor girl was stumbling around, hurling salmon and chicken chunks everywhere! We got her to Dr. Everett ASAP and found out that not only did she steal Roger's brand new cigarette pack, but she went and ate the whole darn thing too! It looks like she was just dying for her fix! Our favorite bear was in real dire straits for a little bit, nicotine poisoning had done a number on her after being slowly weaned off the patches. Fortunately for Maya, Alex ran in from town the moment he heard his furry friend was in trouble. She's gotten better since then, but getting Maya to kick the habit has gotten a little harder. But we here at Wilson's aren't gonna give up on her, you can bet on that!
Just for extra safety, we've also made sure folks who ever were, are, or plan on being a clown don't get anywhere near Maya. That means you, Roger!
