May 24 (UPI) — A Wisconsin couple visiting Alaska helped to rescue a baby black bear that appeared to have become disoriented while swimming across a body of water.
Melisa Rongstad, of Eleva, said she and her husband were riding on a sightseeing boat in Prince William Sound when the tour guide drew her attention to a mother bear with a cub on its back.
Rongstad said she watched as the mother and cub climbed out of the water, but moments later, she noticed a second cub in the water was swimming in the wrong direction.
“It was very small and it was swimming back away from the mom,” she told WLAX/WEUX.
The couple and the boat crew decided to pluck the cub from the water and warm it to prevent it from drowning.
The bear, dubbed Fjord, was taken to an Alaska Department of Fish and Game facility in Anchorage, where biologist Cory Standorf and his team determined the animal was healthy enough to be taken to the Alaska Zoo for further care.
The Department of Fish and Game recommends that anyone who sees a bear in danger contact the department rather than attempt to help the animal, as the encounters could turn dangerous.