Colorado Fruit Donation Feeds Orphaned Bears
Fruit growers and wildlife operators in Colorado are seeing how a freeze can reach beyond orchards into rehabilitation budgets and food sourcing.
Updated on Nov. 1, 2026 in Philanthropy
Talbott Farms donated an estimated 15 tons of Palisade peaches to the Pauline S. Schneegas Wildlife Foundation in Silt, Colorado, which was caring for more than 30 orphaned bear cubs, roughly six times its typical annual count. The donation followed a late spring freeze and severe drought that cut natural food for Colorado bears.
Why it matters
Bears need large amounts of sugar to build fat before hibernation, and the freeze destroyed much of that natural food, leaving rehabilitation centers to source calories from outside. For Colorado's fruit growers and wildlife operators, the episode shows how a single weather event can shift food supply and cost pressures across farming and conservation work at the same time.
Talbott Farms sent an estimated 15 tons of peaches, with volunteers collecting 2,000 pounds a week for the bears at a facility that held more than 30 animals against a typical count of about five. Apples purchased at cost ran around 40 cents a pound after a roughly 10-day trucking delay.
The players
Talbott Farms
A Palisade, Colorado fruit grower whose peach donation supplied the Foundation's bears during the harvest season.
Pauline S. Schneegas Wildlife Foundation
A wildlife rehabilitation center in Silt, Colorado that cares for orphaned and malnourished bears.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife
The state agency that manages wildlife in Colorado and will remove hibernating bears to artificial dens in winter.
The details
Foundation volunteers sought food donations from across the region and collected peaches weekly from Talbott Farms during harvest, which ran through the end of September. A trucking delay of about 10 days briefly interrupted apple deliveries from Washington state, where the apples are grown for cider production, as drivers weighed a possible strike over rising diesel prices. Talbott Farms also helped the Foundation buy apples from its supplier at cost, a workaround that kept the supply line moving while transport was disrupted.
Timeline
Spring: a late freeze and severe drought reduced natural food for Colorado bears.
Through the end of September: peach donations ran until the harvest ended.
Earlier this year: apple deliveries were interrupted for about 10 days.
January and February: Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff are expected to move hibernating bears into artificial dens.
March and April: bears are expected to wake and return to the wild.
Market Landscape
The spring freeze and drought that cut natural bear food this year mirror the kind of weather-driven supply shock that pushes fruit growers to look for alternative outlets for surplus. Talbott Farms' at-cost apple arrangement shows how suppliers and buyers in the region are working around transport disruptions rather than waiting for market conditions to normalize.
Operators in agriculture and wildlife services should weigh how weather-driven food shortages can reach their costs, as donated surplus and at-cost purchases become a practical buffer against supply disruption. Businesses that rely on regional transport should also plan for short delivery gaps when drivers consider strikes over fuel prices.
The takeaway
Operators should treat weather events and transport disruptions as linked risks to food sourcing and plan buffers, such as surplus donation channels or at-cost supplier arrangements, before a shortage hits. Track diesel price trends and any driver labor action in your region, since those conditions can interrupt inbound deliveries with little notice.
What happens next
Bears will be moved to a satellite facility at 8,000 feet, with Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff removing hibernating bears to artificial dens in January and February and the animals expected to wake and return to the wild in March and April.
Further reading
For more on how giving programs like this one work, see the Philanthropy section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel.
