All baby animals rely on their mothers for survival, but sometimes moms are unable to give their offspring the care they need. In these cases, it’s up to kind humans to step in and provide some love and care.
When one mama bear was overwhelmed with five bear cubs, two of the cubs fell behind — until a police department stepped in to save them and give them a chance for life.
In 2017, the Town of Carroll Police Department, in western New York, was doing “bear traffic control” when they saw a mother bear and her cubs crossing the road — and noticed one cub was struggling to keep up.
The mother cub had five cubs in her care, something the department described as “very, very rare.” One of the cubs was “too weak” to keep up with its mom and siblings, and with so many other cubs to care for the overworked mom was unable to do anything to help.
So, the officers decided to take the cub in, to give it the best chance for survival. Days later, they noticed another one of the cubs was also struggling, and they decided to take it in as well.
Both cubs were taken to wildlife rehabilitation, intending to release them back into the wild once they were good and healthy.
While separating an animal from its mother doesn’t sound ideal, it was necessary for their survival, and doing so also helped the mother bear focus on providing the best care for her remaining cubs.
“This leaves her with three other very healthy cubs that she can now focus on and take care of,” the department wrote on Facebook.
While mother animals are usually very protective of their young — which could’ve led to a dangerous situation for the officer — the mama bear seemed to know it was all for the best.
“She actually appeared to be some what relieved and never showed any aggression with the officer,” the department wrote.
In the end, they definitely made the right call: both the mama bear and the rehabilitated cubs thrived after parting ways.
“Both rescued cubs are doing great, getting stronger by the day. Both mom and the other three cubs have been seen many more times as well, they are also doing great!”
Years later, someone asked the department for an update about the rehabilitated bears, and they confirmed that their health returned and they were reintroduced to the wild.
“They were both released successfully after being rehabilitated!” the department wrote.
Thank you to these officers for stepping in to save these bear cubs — it’s clear the mama bear was too overwhelmed to give them the love they needed, and taking them to rehabilitation was the right call.
We hope all these bears are doing great back in the wild! Share this incredible story!