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Arizona Game and Fish Dept.
This orphaned black bear cub was found inside a home in southeast Arizona on Thursday.
A hungry, orphaned black bear cub that entered an Arizona home -- eating chocolate cake before being discovered by the awakened homeowners -- has been sent to a local zoo, according to wildlife officials who called 2012 a "difficult" one for southeast Arizona bears due to wildfires and drought.
Arizona Game and Fish Department officers on Thursday responded to a call of a black bear inside a home in the Sonoita area, the agency said in a statement.
"Homeowners awoke to find a bear cub had entered their home through an open kitchen window and eaten some chocolate cake," the agency stated. "Since there was no sign of an adult bear in the area, Game and Fish removed the cub and transferred the orphaned bear to the Heritage Park Zoo in Prescott."
Since the cub is too young to fend for itself in the wild, it's expected to become part of a future zoo exhibit.
"This year has proved difficult for bears in southeastern Arizona," the agency added. "The combination of last year’s fires and ongoing drought has resulted in a scarcity of natural food sources."
The agency posted a photo of the bear cub on its Facebook page, along with a warning. "Remember: Bears have an incredibly keen sense of smell even from long distances and human food is very attractive to them!" it said.
Arizona has an estimated 2,500 black bears, the only bear species found in the state.
TODAY's Natalie Morales takes a look at a video from Colorado where a woman yelled at a black bear who had wandered onto her back porch – and actually scared off the enormous animal.
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