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This young bear cub was on the search for food when something terrible happened. The poor baby got caught up in a poacher’s trap. You won’t believe the lengths animal rescuers went to in order to help out this cub!
20. Wandering Around
A young bear cub had been wandering around when he got himself into a scary situation. The young bear cub was panicked and absolutely frightened. So what happened to him?
19. A Trap
The young bear cub had gotten himself stuck in a barbed wire snare trap. The trap had tightened itself around his leg and the more he struggled the tighter its grip got. The bear began to panic…
18. Distressed
“The young bear was quite distressed and struggling to free himself,” Kartick Satyanarayan, cofounder and CEO of Wildlife SOS, an organization that rescues and rehabilitates wildlife in India, told The Dodo. You won’t believe just how long the bear had been trapped.
17. Hours
“He had a snare wrapped tightly around his leg. To make matters worse, he was entangled in a barbed wire fence for nearly eight hours,” Satyanarayan explained. However, soon a miracle occurred that would help out the poor trapped cub.
16. Spotted
Luckily for the baby cub, some local farmers spotted the sloth bear and saw that he was trapped. They could see that the sloth bear was around 10-months-old and they knew that they had to help. So they alerted a local animal rescue team.
15. Local Team
The farmers were able to get in contact with the local forestry department in Karnataka, India. This forestry department then got in touch with Wildlife SOS. Wildlife SOS quickly dispatched a rescue team.
14. Swelling
“In an attempt to break free, the bear had been struggling for hours, causing swelling in the leg forelimb from the snare, and had sustained scratches from the wires,” Satyanarayan said. However, the swelling wasn’t even the worst part…
13. Injured
Satyanarayan also noticed that the bear had been trying to chew off the trap. This resulted in some bad mouth injuries. “He was also bleeding from the mouth as a result of gnawing on the barbed wires.”
12. Rescue
Despite all of the swelling and bleeding, the rescue team was able to successfully remove the sloth bear from the trap. Then it was time to look the bear cub over to see if he had sustained any serious injuries. The team was surprised by their findings…
11. Surprised
Luckily for the little sloth bear, he hadn’t sustained any serious injuries. The rescue team was able to treat all of his problems right then and there. However, the rescue team was still pretty confused as to how the bear had gotten stuck in the first place.
10. Guesses
The rescue team assumed that the bear was probably on the lookout for some food when he got caught up in the trap. Sloth bears eat a hearty meal of insects, fruits, and flowers, however, finding food has been pretty difficult for them as of lately.
9. Under Threat
Much of their diet has been under threat due to forests being cut down by people. Since much of the forests have been cut down, the sloth bear’s have begun to venture out onto plantations where farmers grow berries and other fruits.
8. Prevention
Farmer’s have grown frustrated of bears eating up many of their resources and as a result have begun to implement preventative measures. “To prevent them from consuming and damaging their crops, farmers often lay down barbed wire fences around their plantations,” Satyanarayan said.
7. Poachers
Poachers have begun to take advantage of these new measures as well. “Consequently, poachers use this as a means to get easy access to wild animals by strategically placing snares and traps around these areas.” Thankfully, our little sloth bear cub didn’t fall into the hands of a poacher.
6. Reunited
What’s even more amazing is that the sloth cub was able to be reunited with his mother! It was an amazing turn of events when the mother bear was spotted out in the nearby vicinity. Everyone was so happy about the way things turned out!
5. Mama Bear
“The mother bear was sighted in the vicinity, but due to human intervention was not able to come near to the cub,” Satyanarayan said. “Thus, after rescuing and treating the cub, he was released back into the same area so he could make his way back to his mother.”
4. Lucky Bear
This baby sloth cub was pretty lucky. He was able to be removed from the trap that caught him and was happily reunited with his mother. However, many other bears aren’t so lucky and fall victim to bad circumstances.
3. Cruel Circumstances
“Barbed wires and snares are one of the cruelest human-created threats to wildlife, and it is distressing to imagine the millions of animals that fall victim to these barbaric traps every year in India,” Satyanarayan said. Many of these bears don’t end up surviving the situation…
2. Unfortunate
“Only a small percentage of these animals survive the horrors of these deadly traps and the deaths of a majority of these victims of poaching go undocumented,” Satyanarayan explained. That’s why this baby sloth bear happened to be so lucky.
1. Happy Ending
Thanks to the wonderful farmers and rescue team, this sloth bear was given a second chance at life. He was able to reunite with his mother and will grow up to be a happy and healthy bear!
Brittany
Silvia
