State to release orphaned bear cub

State Fish and Game Department officials moved up the release of an orphaned bear cub to Wednesday to beat winter storms forecast for the rest of the week. The 80-pound cub was rescued in September after its mother was hit by a car near Truckee. The cub has been cared for since then in a pen at the department’s Rancho Cordova facility near Sacramento.

Game wardens think the cub now weighs enough to survive. This is the first of five orphaned cubs set for release this winter. Officials say that is an unusually large number of rescued cubs. They blame the increase on a dry year that forced more bears into closer contact with humans.

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