When I saw a mother bear on the side of the road waving her paw, I was first terrified and wanted to run, but then I noticed something strange.
I was on a familiar road heading home. This area typically has a lot of woodland and clean air, with very few cars. There was nothing about the day that suggested anything unusual.
But then I suddenly noticed something dark sitting just by the side of the road. As I got closer, I knew it was a mother bear. She was sitting on her hind legs and seemed to be waving her paw at me.
My heart almost stopped in shock when I initially imagined she might have recently emerged from the bush or escaped from a circus. I was about to hit the gas pedal and leave when I noticed a strange and frightful sight.
The bear didn’t appear hostile. On the other hand, she seemed to be requesting my attention.
I stopped. Then she slowly got up and began to move toward the woods, stopping now and then to check if I was still following. Curiosity and intuition kept me from leaving.
A few meters further on, where the trees began to spread out a bit, I saw a bear cub. The little critter had a plastic jar firmly attached to its head and was wildly tossing its head in an attempt to release itself, but to no avail.
Then I understood that the bear was pleading for help for her cub and was not interested in attacking.
In an effort to avoid frightening the mother, I carefully took the jar off the cub’s head.
The mother immediately went to her child, licked it to check on it, and then carefully carried it back to the forest.
She gave me another look before she faded totally into the trees; there was a sense of appreciation in her eyes.
I quickly returned to my car and left for home after taking a few moments to collect my thoughts. My memories of this day will last a lifetime.
