Prince George neighbours wrangle orphaned bear cubs until conservation officer could take them to sanctuary

Photo: Laura MacDonald

"Do you need a hug?"

Laura MacDonald asked an orphaned bear cub as he looked on longingly as a conservation officer took it away to be reunited with its siblings.

She and the tiny bear had formed an attachment when they spent three hours together Sunday afternoon.

It all started when the North Nechako Neighbours Facebook page was put on high alert as three cubs wandered onto Rosia Road. No one had seen the mom.

The first cub was captured by conservation officers earlier in the week and taken to the Northern Lights Wildlife Society in Smithers to be cared for while the other two cubs continued to roam.

Those two cubs wandered into the right yard because MacDonald and two neighbours spent three hours making sure they stayed in one spot long enough for the conservation officer to come and get them.

“We weren’t going to let these cubs get away. We knew they needed a safe place to live and thrive and we knew if we just hung in there the conversation officer would come and get them,” MacDonald said.

They wrangled the bears by creating a three-way barrier.

“We had to shoo them up the tree every now and then to prevent them from escaping, and we fed them blueberries and apples. We knew they were starving because they’d been without their mother for a long time and they were just too young to find food for themselves and so then I got out a couple of frozen salmon steaks for them.”

Looking back on it, MacDonald said it was an awesome experience.

“It was worth the wait, it was worth the heat,” MacDonald said. “I got within arm’s length of the bears. It really was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be that close to the cubs. It was a definite neighbourhood effort.”