Two orphaned bear cubs, Yreka and Blaze, who were rescued in the wild are now being fostered at a rescue center in Nevada.

They’re four-pounds apiece and just four to six weeks old, and this isn’t their first foster parent’s first rodeo.

“With these two we’ve done over a hundred now since we started this program in 2000,” Tom Millham said. “We’ve only had 2 others we’ve had to bottle feed so this doubles the number we’ve had to bottle feed.”

Tom and Cheryll Millham run Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care.

Turns out, raising a baby cub is surprisingly similar to raising an infant human. Sure gloves are required and their formula consists of evaporated milk and baby peaches but other than that they eat on demand.

They scoot around before they can walk and they rely on their parents to teach the skills they need to make it on their own in the wild.

“We give them fish and we start the fish out in water. We get old logs take through dig for grubs,” Cheryll said.

The cubs past is a bit mysterious — They were delivered to Fish and Game by a rescuer. No one knows what happened to the mama bear or how her cubs ended up all alone.

In about a year, the cubs will be released back into the wild.

“The rule of thumb is they’ll release them in a 75-mile radius from where they came from,” Tom said. “It’ll be up to the biologist from the Yreka area to determine where he’s gonna release em and when.”

But for now, they’re safe and sound in their foster ‘den.’

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