ASHEVILLE, N.C. — An employee with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) is being hailed as a hero for helping save an animal that was trapped in a tree.
In a Facebook post, Help Asheville Bears (HAB), a group which says it aims to prevent illegal bear trapping, said they were initially called because someone saw a bear cub stuck in a tree. In the caption, HAB said there were actually two cubs in the tree: the one with a stuck paw, and a second that had stayed with it. Both bears were chewing on a branch in an attempt to free the young bear. After arriving at the scene and seeing the bears, the group contacted NCWRC in an effort to help the trapped animal.
Cub paw stuck in tree in Asheville, NCBreaking Urgent Bear News! 😢🙏 Cub has paw stuck in tree in Asheville! Thank you to the amazing follower who reported to HAB and sent this video. NCWRC was contacted immediately and is on the way to the scene to try to rescue the cub. HAB is also on the way to the scene. Hopefully very soon, we will be able to share that the cub has been saved!
Posted by Help Asheville Bears-HAB on Wednesday, April 13, 2022
The group identified Ryan Luckadoo as the NCWRC employee who arrived at the scene, put a ladder against the tree, and climbed up to free the cubs. In its post, HAB said, “Luckadoo assessed that there was no bleeding and no damage to the paw before putting the cub back onto the tree below him and letting it climb down the tree. He then climbed down the ladder himself, removing all the equipment so that both cubs could run free.”
The mother bear is believed to frequent the area where the bear cubs were rescued, WLOS reported.
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