Fire department rescues bear cub
Published: July 11, 2007
A Pennsylvania Game Commission wildlife conservation officer and the Dushore Fire Department made a dramatic rescue of a black bear cub that was stuck in a tree near Laporte, just south of the Bradford County line.
On May 11, Lew and Scott Hope, a father-son team with the Dushore Fire Department, responded to a call about a bear cub stuck about 50 feet high in a tree in Lost Lake Acres, a developed community one mile north of Laporte.
The cub, which weighed only about 6 or 7 pounds, had its left front leg wedged firmly between two large branches and could not free itself.
The sow bear made several attempts to dislodge the cub without success and lingered in the area with three other cubs while the rescue crew set up a ladder truck to access the cub.
William M. Williams, a Game Commission wildlife conservation officer for Sullivan County, climbed the ladder and assessed the situation.
“I held the cub by the scruff of its neck and tried to free its leg, but it wouldn’t budge,” Williams said. “Scott Hope climbed the ladder and used a pry-bar to separate the two branches while I lifted the bear free of the branches and ended a nearly five-hour ordeal.”
Williams said the cub was lowered gently to the ground and carried to an area where the sow was waiting in a small pine tree. The cub hit the ground running and immediately joined its siblings and the sow.
“This bear would never have been able to escape this predicament without human intervention,” Williams said. “The Dushore Fire Department saved the day for this bear.”
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