A family in Montana saved three bear cubs on Dupuyer Creek Road by roping and putting them in a barrel last April 7.
Mike and Kadie Briggs came from Valier Friday afternoon after running errands when they saw the cubs in a ditch next to the road. It was not easy to take the cubs because they were afraid of people.
According to Kadie, people in cars started taking pictures and videos of the scene. "Eventually the cubs got scared and started heading back up the hill," she said. The cubs were whining, clacking their teeth whenever the couple approached the cubs.
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Unconventional capture
To lessen the cubs' fear, Mike and Kadie went around them and directed them back to the truck. "At that point, we decided we better keep them close or we might lose them again," Kadie added.
Luckily, Mike was a cowboy. He took a hard and heavy rope from the back of the truck, divided it into three, and threw it around their necks. "My husband is a cowboy through-and-through," said Kadie.
A neighbor saw what was happening and brought a 50-gallon plastic barrel, where they placed the bears. They were not afraid anymore after transferring to the barrel, curling up around each other. "They didn't cry anymore. There were no noises from them. They were happy as clams," Kadie said.
Their home was nine miles down the road, where they brought the bears and named them after the Three Stooges - Curly, Moe, and Larry.
A few minutes after their arrival, a biologist from the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) picked up the cubs. They transported the cubs to a wildlife center Saturday morning, where they are nursing on a specialized formula for the bears, said FWP in a news release.
The FWP and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are looking for a zoo or facility accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. It will be their permanent home, where "the cubs will be frequently handled for bottle feeding and will quickly habituate to humans," the report added. However, their success will be drastically low.
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Trauma didn't stop them
Six months earlier, a bear killed the saddle horse of their 13-year-old son in a deep snow drift. It terrified them, but the experience reinforced their respect for bears.
But even after he lost his horse, he was one of the first to help Mike rope the cubs.
"There was not sadness wrapped around it for us. We thought it was awesome to have that experience together and we'll -always remember it."
Prior to the rescue, FWP biologists were already looking for Curly, Moe, and Larry. Two days before the couple pulled over, Mike had called the FWP. The cubs' mother was euthanized two days before they were found on the road.
"The best case scenario was that mom could have raised them - but that's not going to happen at this point. Just like in life, bad things happen and we have to deal with what we have, said Kadie.
Can't be tamed
Grizzly bear cubs cannot be kept around as pets, even if they look cute and friendly. According to Dr. Oded Berger-Tal, the editor of Conservation Behavior: Applying Behavioral Ecology to Wildlife Conservation and Management, bears are wild animals.
"The concept of friendship is a human construct. There are many 'cute' videos online of men feeding wild bears and playing with them, and seeing them with our human eyes and feelings, it can be easy to call what we see friendship, of the sort we associate with domesticated dogs," Dr. Oded said.
Humans understand friendship, but bears don't. Dr. Oded added, "the same bear that fed out of your hands today can easily maul you to death tomorrow- whether because it is a female bear that thinks that you are endangering her cubs, or a bear entering hibernation and looking for any food source it can find."
