Ecomuseum black bears wake from hibernation

They were late to bed, but early to rise.

The Ecomuseum's two black bears emerged from hibernation on Tuesday and took their first stroll of 2016.

Juno and Genie, both females, "came out and had a lot of fun [and] rolled around in the snow today," said Caroline Bourque with the Ecomuseum.

Bourque said the black bears' emergence is a little on the earlier side.

She said the earliest a bear has woken from hibernationat the St-Anne-de-Bellevue zoowas Feb. 28 just two days earlier than this year.

"The warm winter we had this year is probably impacting that early hibernation," she said, but "it won't have an effect on their health."

All of the Ecomuseum's animals are there for a special reason and can't go back to the wild.

Juno, 4, hails from Manitoba and was orphaned at a young age and five-year-old Genie was born in a zoo.

Bourque says waking up is a long process and visitors who stop by should be prepared to see the bears napping.

"It might be a moment where they decided 'Oh, no I'm going to go back and snooze a little bit more.'"