Unbearable pain: Mama bear tries to wake baby cub that was fatally struck at Yosemite
A Yosemite National Park ranger captured a photo of a heartbreaking incident involving a mama bear and one of her baby bears.
A small, female cub that was believed to be no more than 25 pounds and 6 months old was fatally struck by a vehicle and left on the side of the road to die. It isn’t exactly clear when the incident happened.
“We get this call a lot — too much, to be honest,” the unidentified park ranger wrote in a social media post Friday on the Yosemite National Park page. “’Bear hit by vehicle, dead on the side of the road.’
“Sadly, it’s become routine.”
Nonetheless, what happened next — after the park ranger moved the cub from the roadside to a more peaceful, grassy area to be laid to rest — proved to be truly saddening for one mama bear.
An adult bear who was believed to be the mother of the deceased cub later approached the baby bear and let out a collection of noises, including soft grunts, in an attempt to wake up the cub.
For six hours, the mama bear repeatedly darted back and forth from the road to the cub’s body in hopes that the youngling would get up, the park ranger said.
“My heart sinks,” the park ranger wrote. “The calls to the cub continue, sounding more pained each time.
“I glance back finding myself hoping it would respond to her call, too. But of course, nothing.”
Before the photo of the mother bear and baby bear was taken, the ranger had set up a remote camera that was pointed toward the cub then left the area.
Park officials previously reported over 400 bears have been hit by cars in Yosemite going back to 1995.
New wildlife protection zones were established for motorists to slow down and help protect wildlife.
But bear fatalities from vehicle collisions have continued.
Last year, four bears were struck by drivers within three weeks. Two of the bears ended up dying and the other two were critically injured.
“Every year, we report the number of bears that get hit by vehicles,” the park ranger wrote. “But numbers don’t always paint a picture. I want people to see what I saw: the sad reality behind each of these numbers.
“So please, remember this. Remember that when traveling through Yosemite, we are all just visitors in the home of countless animals and it is up to us to follow the rules that protect them.
“Go the speed limit, drive alertly, and look out for wildlife,” the ranger added. “Protecting Yosemite’s black bears is something we can all do.”
This story was originally published July 17, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
