A man reunited a family of bears and helped move stalled traffic along by picking up two bear cubs in Kamloops on April 12, 2023.
Image Credit: TIKTOK/Mckaysways
April 14, 2023 - 11:45 AM
Traffic was stalled in Kamloops earlier this week as two bear cubs struggled to cross a road. But one of the drivers stuck in traffic took matters into his own hands.
Commuters on Highland Road near the city's Juniper Ridge neighbourhood watched a well-intentioned man take the risk of carrying the cubs — who had stopped traffic — to their mother, April 12, and it turns out the man's son recorded the event, giving viewers a closer look of the action.
"I love my dad," he can be heard saying in the video posted to social media as the unidentified man sprang into action.
After wrestling to grab a crying cub from underneath a vehicle by the scruff of the neck, he hurriedly walks across the road to hand off the cub to its mother. In a second video, which was only posted to TikTok temporarily, he grabs the second cub and takes it to the sow.
READ MORE: RISKY BUSINESS: Man picks up cub blocking Kamloops road as momma bear watches
Although it was a clear risk, the man wasn't harmed and managed to both reunite the furry family and get the 5 p.m. traffic jam near moving again.
WildSafeBC warns against this kind of interaction with wildlife, especially bears.
"Any exposure to humans can cause animals to become comfortable around humans," WildSafeBC program manager Lisa Lopez said. "They're still animals and wild, but if they become habituated to humans and human presence, they're more likely to come into human spaces."
It could lead to a pattern of bears coming into contact with humans, threatening the safety of both the animal and people.
A mother bear can also be unpredictable and protective of her young, vulnerable cubs, Lopez said.
She's seen the video and while she was concerned about the interaction with the animals, she praised the drivers who stopped to give the animals space. Lopez also said the mother bear would have found a way to retrieve her cubs.
"That sow, she would have made it happen to get her cubs into a safe place," Lopez said. "Their entire goal is to get those cubs to survive those young years."
iNFOnews.ca has reached out to the man for comment, but he has not yet responded.
For more information on wildlife safety, go to the WildSafeBC website here.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Levi Landry or call 250-819-3723 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
News from © iNFOnews, 2023