Wild Things staff is already having a bear of a time with their newest arrival.

A 5-pound black bear cub came to the Weimar educational center last Thursday via the California Department of Fish and Game. The center plans to use the yet-to-be named cub for educational purposes to teach people about bear safety.

The cub has made debuts at four area schools including the United Auburn Indian Community School and Rock Creek. Students at the Indian community school have been charged with naming the bear, which the center expects to happen sometime next week.

The now 8-week-old bear was found in the outlying area of Temecula. Two girls found the bear cub while they were walking on a rural road, according to Gabe Kerschner, director of Wild Things Inc., who said that he heard the story from the Department of Fish and Game.

The department determined that the bear could not be rehabilitated and released into the wild. As a result, they decided to release it to an education center. They selected Wild Things, which is a primary placement center for the department, Kerschner said.

Since then it’s meant interrupted nights of sleep for handler and “surrogate mom” Tamarah Roach. The tiny ball of fur has been staying at Roach’s home and sleeping in a crate. Roach said she has to wake up during the middle of the night when the bear is hungry and then receives an early morning wake-up cry at 6.

“It’s hard and you get scratched but when she’ll come up and sit on your lap and stare at you it’s all worth it,” Roach said.

Feeding the bear is a chore in itself, Kerschner said. She dines on a combination of rice, broccoli and other vegetables sweetened with orange juice or honey — but it’s the mess afterward that creates the real work.

“She doesn’t eat nicely like a sensible bear. She dives into her food and gets it all over the place. Then you have to bathe her,” Kerschner said.

Eventually the bear, which will gain more than 100 pounds in the next year, will be moved into a caged area complete with a pool, Kerschner said. She will be used for various summer programs to educate residents in wooded areas about bear safety.

Kerschner said currently there is a “very healthy” population of more than 30,000 black bears in Northern California forests.

He said he wants to spread the message that people should keep the population in mind. That means putting pet food inside, keeping cars inside garages and other practices to keep bears in the wild.

If he had his choice, Kerschner said he’d rather see the bear released into the wild.

“The saddest thing is this animal will be 300 pounds but live in an enclosure,” Kerschner said. “Hopefully, she’ll be able to do some good.”

He said Wild Things will make the best of her future and use her to help promote good for other bears in the wild.

“Her role is to teach people to live alongside bears,” Kerschner said. “She allows us to be a big draw for programs and school outreach.”

The Journal’s Jenifer Gee can be reached at jeniferg@goldcountrymedia.com or post a comment at auburnjournal.com.