Two black bear cubs orphaned this summer in the Oregon wilderness quickly found a new home in Kansas with the help of a rescue mission flown by a 2001 Beechcraft King Air 350.
The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife discovered the male and female cubs when their mother was killed in a shooting incident in July. Deemed too young to survive on their own, the three-month-old siblings spent a few days at Wildlife Safari in Winston, Oregon, before the King Air arrived to take them to their new home at the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kansas.
One-off missions like this have a profound impact on the lives of the animals involved. These philanthropic flights join the hundreds of hours general aviation pilots fly every year via organizations dedicated to animal rescue flights. These range from rehoming pets for a better chance at adoption to rescuing and relocating wildlife; see the box on page 18 for suggestions on how to get involved.
Here’s how an airplane most often used for inmate transport helped these motherless cubs find a new way of life.
A call for help
Wichita’s Sedgwick County Zoo is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and is home to nearly 3,000 animals of more than 400 different species. The 247-acre zoo has been recognized across the globe for its support of field conservation programs and successful breeding of rare and endangered species.
The zoo had humanely euthanized their beloved black bear Mitch in December 2023 due to age-related arthritis and heart disease. Mitch had spent nearly all his 20 years at the Sedgwick County Zoo after being rescued from a private residence in Illinois as a cub. With a vacant enclosure in its North American Prairie section, the zoo was on a waiting list for new black bear residents. They jumped on the chance to raise the Oregon cubs, then quickly started working on the logistics to make it happen.
Sedgwick County Zoo is a not-for-profit zoo that opened in 1971 in northwest Wichita. It is funded through a partnership between the Sedgwick County government and the Sedgwick County Zoological Society, Inc.
Fortunately, a former lieutenant for the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office was working security at the zoo the day the call came in that a pair of cubs halfway across the country needed a new home. He heard the zoo team talking about quickly finding safe transportation for the bears, so he mentioned that Sedgwick County had an airplane at its disposal.
“The ex-lieutenant reached out to me to see what our schedules were because this flight had to be done quickly,” pilot Shauna Sherwood said. “Our schedule supported it, so an email was sent to get the sheriff’s approval. Within 24 hours from the first email, we had a plan in place. We were in the air within a day of that.”
Sedgwick County’s King Air
The Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office has had a fixed-wing airplane for nearly four decades. The county purchased its 2001 King Air 350 in December 2023, replacing a 1975 Twin Commander 690A.
“When we got a new captain, his first question was ‘Why are we not flying a plane that was made in Wichita?’” Sherwood said. “So, we started searching and were lucky that the Kansas Highway Patrol was willing to sell their King Air to us for a reasonable amount.”
Choosing the King Air was about more than loyalty to a local manufacturer, though; it was finding an airplane that met their needs, was dependable and still in production for parts availability (the 690A hasn’t been produced since 1985). Sherwood said it’s also saved time and money now that neither airplane maintenance nor pilot training requires traveling out of state as it did with the Commander.
Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office has two pilots and one in training. Dr. Lawrence Lay, who the team calls Doc, has been a reserve deputy/pilot since 2009. He’s a 19,500-hour pilot with approximately 1,500 in King Airs, including time as a test pilot for Beech and a check airman for LifeSave Transport, which provides regional air and ground transport for critically ill or injured patients.
Sherwood was a detective when the Sheriff’s Office opened applications for one pilot trainee in 2018.
“I had been with the Sheriff’s Office for 15 or 16 years, and they were having a hard time finding pilots,” she said. “So instead of trying to hire a pilot who already had their certifications, they took a deputy and sent them up to pilot training at Kansas State University in Salina. I was in Salina for about 14 months earning all my certifications.”
She added: “I was in the military and I was on flight crew, but I was in the back. Never in a million years did I ever expect to become a pilot. When the position came open, I thought it was an opportunity of a lifetime so I figured why not put my name in for the spot. It was a long process, but I got selected and I’m very happy. It’s the best job in the department.”
Sherwood started flying the county’s Commander in 2019. Lay had previously flown King Airs, too. Both pilots attended FlightSafety in Wichita in July 2023 to get their King Air type ratings in advance of the county taking ownership of the King Air in December 2023.
Before the pandemic, Sherwood said, the office was flying nearly 500 hours every year. Today, it is about 275 hours per year. Flight hours are steadily increasing and she expects they will return to pre-COVID use within the next couple of years.
“Our King Air is primarily used for inmate transport. When we have inmates arrested in other states on our warrant, we have to go get them and extradite them back so they can go to court,” said Sherwood, who has accumulated nearly 1,400 total hours. “By policy, the plane can also be used for surveillance or transportation of detectives for on-duty work in other states. For example, we’ve taken our K-9 unit to pick up new canines.”
The bear cub adventure
Sherwood said picking up new canines for the office is the only mission remotely close to transporting bear cubs, something she never dreamed she’d be asked to do.
“This was kind of once-in-a-lifetime,” she said. “It was a really cool adventure.”
The flight to Oregon included Doc and Sherwood, zookeepers Nancy Smith and Lindsey Davis and two communications team members to document the trip. They flew from Wichita’s Colonel James Jabara Airport (KAAO) to Southwest Oregon Regional Airport (KOTH) in North Bend, a city surrounded on three sides by Coos Bay.
“There was an airport just north of Winston, where the cubs were being kept at Wildlife Safari, but because it doesn’t have approaches, we went to Southwest Oregon Regional to be on the safe side,” Sherwood said.
They split the trip over two days to give the zookeepers time to coordinate with the Wildlife Safari team on feeding schedules and to allow the cubs to start acclimating to their new keepers.
“The zookeepers were so knowledgeable and nice enough to involve us in the process,” Sherwood said. “It was cool to talk with them and understand what they go through with these wild animals. They invited us to go with them to Wildlife Safari, a 600-acre outdoor zoo. The staff there drove us through and showed us some behind-the-scenes work.”
The crates the zoo brought along to load the cubs into were larger than needed. Fortunately, Wildlife Safari had smaller carriers that fit in the King Air seats and could be maneuvered to feed the cubs by bottle every two hours and keep them in sight of one another.
“The cubs weren’t used to being separated, so the keepers had to face the cubs toward each other,” Sherwood said. “There was some crying when they couldn’t see each other.”
The male slept most of the trip, the female needed a few apple slices to settle down. According to Sherwood, the bears were great passengers considering all they’d been through in the days leading up to the flight.
“Seeing those little baby bears was just awesome,” she said, adding that the flight to Oregon took a little over 5.5 hours with a headwind and the return flight was 4.5 hours.
Wichita meets Takelma and Sama
The cubs now have names: Takelma is the male and Sama is the female. Takelma honors the name of the Native American people who lived in the region of Oregon where rescuers found the cubs. Sama translates to “summer” in the native Takelma language and was chosen for the time of year she was rescued.
Scott Newland, president and CEO of Sedgwick County Zoo, announced their arrival in a news release several weeks after their flight to Wichita.
“We are committed to our mission to inspire respect and conservation for wildlife around the world,” Newland said in the release. “These cubs are far too young to fend for themselves, and we are happy to provide them with the expert care they need to thrive.”
Zoo visitors were eager to get to know the cubs as soon as they were announced, though it took some time for them to be on public display regularly. They were receiving care behind the scenes and were too small to be left alone in their outdoor habitat that includes a climbing structure, a tree and a pool. By August, they were making short, supervised visits in the outdoor area and the frequency and length of time steadily increased into the fall.
As of November, the cubs were in their outdoor habitat daily though they also have access to their indoor space 24/7 as temperatures in Kansas drop. Bears in zoos do not need to hibernate since they do not see the reduction in resources that wild bears experience but Sedgwick County Zoo staff said the zoo recognizes hibernation behaviors can be beneficial, allowing bears to calm, heal and grow. Keepers plan less involvement in winter so the cubs can rest undisturbed and they also provide extra food, denning boxes and additional bedding material.
In the first four months after arriving in Wichita, Sama grew from just under 10 pounds to a little over 42 pounds while her brother went from 11 to 52 pounds.
Zookeepers say the siblings are excellent swimmers and love spending time playing and foraging in their habitat. They love rolling around on top of cedar branches to get the cedar scent on their fur. They also love enrichment, including puzzle feeders.
Everyone involved wishes this rescue hadn’t been necessary, that the cubs and their mother had been left alone to live wild in the Pacific Northwest. Yet each organization that played a part was happy to help make the best of a tragic situation. Thanks to a group effort, Takelma and Sama will serve as important ambassadors for their species from their home in Wichita’s Sedgwick County Zoo.
Volunteer pilots needed
Whether for one flight a month or one a year, there is likely an organization out there that can use your help.
The King Air is great for animal rescue missions because the pressurized, climate-controlled flight can help make animals more comfortable and the roomy cabin can accommodate multiple crates, supplies and helpers to be with the animals.
We’ve highlighted several animal rescue organizations over the years in King Air – Turtles Fly Too, Pilots N Paws, Pilots to the Rescue, to name a few. In addition to searching out these organizations, we encourage you to check with local groups and to consult with Air Care Alliance (aircarealliance.org), which has an Animal Transport category among its directory of organizations facilitating flights.
About black bears
The American black bear is a medium-sized bear with fur that can be black, brown, gray or bluish-black. They aren’t aggressive unless provoked and are known for their ability to climb to escape threats. They aren’t true hibernators but tend to spend winters in caves for protection against the cold. They eat all through the spring, summer and fall to build up fat for the winter. Even while dormant in winter, they are easily awakened upon intrusion or commotion. The American black bear is the most widespread and numerous bear in North America, with a total population of 500,000. Source: Sedgwick County Zoo