PILOT POINT, TX – Two bear cubs being used as a money making show in Oklahoma have been turned over to a local wildlife ranch. The owners ran a photography company out of Atoka and were forced to get rid of the cubs when authorities found out they illegally owned the bears. But the Sharkarosa Wildlife Ranch is now struggling to make Pilot Point their permanent home.

"They pretty much had no muscle mass, no ability to stand or anything because the cages, the crate was literally they could turn around,” said Sharkarosa Ranch Manager Sara Stuart.

When the brother and sister bears, Barnaby and Bailey, were dropped off at Sharkarosa ranch they were malnourished and unwanted.

"Eventually they came to us and asked if we'd take them in lieu of turning them over to the authorities because they were afraid if they did they of course they'd be arrested,” said Scott Edwars, the owner of Sharkarosa Ranch.

A photography company in Oklahoma used the baby bears to make money by traveling around Oklahoma selling pictures. But they had no long term goals of caring for them.

"They're thinking is - let's get these things as young as we can, get as many photos, make as much money as we can and then dump them on some sanctuary or wildlife park to raise and incur the costs for the rest of their lives,” said Edwards. “So that’s why a lot of these animals don’t’ have homes and a lot of your sanctuaries are overrun with these animals because of people doing stuff like this.”

So when Edwards and Stuart first got the cubs, the plan was to rehabilitate them and then give them to another wildlife sanctuary. But spots were limited and they developed an attachment to the young cubs.

"They know us, they like us, they like it here and so we really want this to be their forever home. They've been shuttled around so much, we want this to be their last stop,” said Stuart.

At 7 months old Barnaby and Bailey don’t look very big. But they’re growing rapidly and will eventually weigh between 300 to 400 pounds. So they’ll need a much bigger habitat if they’re going to stay at Sharkarosa.

"We have plenty of room; we already have the fence purchased for the habitat. It's going to take a lot more and we're still looking for sponsors to come in and help construct the habitat and still some building materials,” said Edwards.

Sharkarosa has many other exotic animals and is an educational facility. So Edwards and Stuart want Barnaby and Bailey to be part of that too.

"Not only can we build them a beautiful habitat but we can share them with a lot the DFW Metroplex all the way up into Okalahoma,” said Edwards.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is investigating the company who had the bears.

But Sharkarosa still needs funding and materials, like concrete, steel posts and labor to build the habitat. To make donations or find out more, go to their website at the link below.

On the Web:

www.sharkarosa.com