When repairmen arrived at a Tennessee resident’s home, they were in for a big surprise.
Four of them, in fact.
The resident saw that there was a gas leak on his property and didn’t hesitate to call for repairs. However, when the repairman arrived, they uncovered the real truth behind the leak.
This was no normal leak.
This leak was actually caused by a family of bears asleep in a crawl space in the basement. The bears had created a small home out of the space by using it as a makeshift den.
According to Fox News, the mother bear had likely caused the gas leak when she broke into the crawl space to use as a den to care for her three newborn cubs.
The other interesting part of the story is that when rescuers arrived, at first they only found one bear asleep in the den so it was not instantly clear that there were newborn cubs in the midst.
Wildlife officials weren’t able to immediately remove the bear.
Officials actually had to return the next day to finally encourage the bear to leave.
Once the bear fled, they then discovered the three tiny cubs.
The mother bear, of course, had not abandoned her cubs on purpose.
The bear had gotten spooked by all of the efforts to remove her so she fled.
The Appalachian bear rescue (ABR) a non-profit bear rescue organization, who was one of the main rescue authorities that arrived on the scene stated that “Reunion with their mother is next to impossible.”
But mama bear proved them wrong and returned the next day!
The mother bear was likely waiting until the coast was clear and had come back for her cubs just as her motherly instincts intended.
If the mother bear hadn’t returned, the only option would have been to bottle feed the cubs until the rescuers found another bear family to place them with.
Thankfully, this mama wasn’t about to let that happen.
According to the Appalachian Bear Rescue where the cubs were transferred after they were rescued, bottle feeding seemed to work for a while.
The curators are at their beck and call, 24/7. They’re pleased that two of the three cubs are latching on to the Dr. Brown bottles and eating well. The third seems to prefer a smaller bottle but is slowly transitioning to our preferred method, ABR stated via Facebook.
Mama bear returned to a healthy set of cubs who were given a clean bill of health after being examined by the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine.
The homeowner has a big heart.
Perhaps the most heartwarming part of this story is that the homeowner allowed the mother bear to come back and wait out the winter with her cubs in their makeshift den.
https://www.facebook.com/AppalachianBearRescue/photos/a.134263716586229/4094117353934159
ABR rescuers affectionately named them Jasmine, Jeannie, and Magic Bear.
Rescuers were happy to return the cubs to the den where mama was waiting for them.
We are happy to see that this bear family was able to stay together.
This story is a wonderful illustration of the compassion that exists between humanity and nature.
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