Dr. Ben Kilham’s connection with animals started when he was a kid. His father was an avid naturalist who exposed Kilham to wild animals and had them in the house all throughout his youth. Kilham was brought his first set of orphaned black bear cubs in 1992. He and his sister, Phoebe Kilham, were granted a license to rehabilitate orphaned black bear cubs by the State of New Hampshire. He was also granted a special license by the State of New Hampshire to conduct research on black bear behavior. Since that time, the Kilham Bear Center has rehabilitated and returned to the wild over 160 bear cubs.

The cubs are raised in an 8-acre protected enclosure that provides them with the opportunity to socialize with other bears, forage for natural foods, such as acorns, beechnuts and green vegetation, and to improve their tree climbing skills. Kilham has spent nine hours at a time on walks with them. One of Kilham’s greatest successes is Squirty, a 22-year-old female, who has had eleven sets of cubs in the wild. Squirty still comes to greet Kilham when he visits her in the forest.

Kilham’s techniques are featured in the new IMAX documentary Pandas as part of a cross-cultural collaboration to take captive panda cubs and raise them to be released in the wild.

Pandas opens nationwide on Friday, April 6.