Help Our Bear Cubs Prepare for Winter!

Gather Acorns & Donate Food

A 45 hour timelapse of our 5 older bear cubs foraging for food in our Apex Predator Enclosure.

Dear Supporters,

As we head into fall, the seven bear cubs in our care are getting ready for winter, and their instincts to prepare are kicking into high gear.

This time of year is known as hyperphagia, when bears naturally increase their food intake to build energy reserves for winter. In the wild, bears spend much of the fall searching for calorie-rich foods, following seasonal food sources, and taking advantage of every opportunity to forage.

For our young patients, these instincts are just as strong. As their appetites grow, we work to provide nutritious food and opportunities to engage in natural behaviors that will support their development and eventual return to their homes in the wild.

Across our campus, we provide more than 2,000 pounds of food each week for the wildlife patients in our care, making your support especially meaningful this time of year.

Here's How You Can Help:

🍂 Gather Acorns for Our Bear Cubs 🍂

Acorns are an important seasonal food source for black bears, providing energy-rich nutrition during the fall. Offering acorns also gives our cubs opportunities to engage with their natural foraging instincts as they investigate and search for food.

If you have oak trees on your property, we would love your help gathering acorns for our bear cubs!

Acorn Collection Guidelines:

• Collect naturally fallen acorns.
• Please donate acorns only, Remove all leaves, twigs, and other debris.
• Do not collect acorns that are moldy, rotten, or contaminated.

Every handful helps us provide our cubs with seasonal food and opportunities to practice natural behaviors.

🌰🌽 Help Fill Our Food Supply 🍎🥚

As our patients prepare for winter, we go through an incredible amount of fresh food every day. In total, our wildlife patients across in care across our campus consume more than 2,000 pounds of food each week, and donations from our community help us meet their nutritional needs throughout rehabilitation.

If you’d like to support our patients through a food donation, we welcome the following items:

• Hard-boiled eggs
• Whole fish (not gutted, if possible)
• Whole or shelled walnuts
• Apples
• Pears
• Bananas
• Grapes
• Avocados
• Carrots
• Corn
• Cantaloupe
• Watermelon
• Green beans
• Cucumbers

A note about apples: We receive a wonderful amount of homegrown apple donations from our community, so we generally do not need supporters to purchase apples for us. If you have homegrown apples you'd like to donate, please do!



Please ensure that produce is ripe, but not overripe or rotting.

For hard-boiled egg donations, please make sure eggs are:

• Hard-boiled
• Unpeeled
• Clearly labeled with the date they were boiled

Donation Drop Off Information

📍 403 Mecham Road, Petaluma, CA 94952

🕘 Donations accepted 7 days a week from

9 AM – 5 PM

A donation station has been set up on our front porch for easy drop-off.

Caring for orphaned wildlife means more than providing food and shelter. It means creating opportunities for animals to develop the instincts, behaviors, and physical abilities they will need when they return to the wild.

For our bear cubs, fall is an important part of that journey. Every acorn they investigate and every opportunity to forage helps us support their natural development.

And with more than 2,000 pounds of food moving through our care each week, every donation, whether a bag of walnuts, a carton of eggs, or a bucket of acorns, makes a meaningful difference.

Thank you for helping us provide the care our patients need as they learn and grow toward a future in the wild.