Furley the Black Bear was born in 1995 and taken to live in a small enclosure in the non-releasable wildlife compound at Springwater Provincial Park when she was a young cub. Her experience at Springwater left her highly habituated to humans and unable to ever be released. Seventeen years after Furley arrived at Springwater, the compound closed and she was transferred Aspen Valley Wildlife Sanctuary.
Furley now enjoys life in a spacious forest environment, alongside our other non-releasable black bear, Mama. She eats a varied natural diet consisting of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and a bit of meat. Her favourite new foods are salmon, cherries, grapes and watermelon. Black Bears live approximately 10 years in the wild. In captivity, they can live up 30 years.