A mama bear and her three cubs made it out safely after being trapped for hours inside a large water storage tank in La Verne, California on Saturday.
Rescue video captured the moments as the mother emerged from the tank, pausing to look around while first responders tried to reassure her.
Glendora residents Eric McDonald and Jamie Kirk were the first to spot the distressed bear family inside the tank around 8 a.m.
“We climbed up top, and there’s a small hole and right away we see a bear staring at us, kind of holding on to the walls because it was full of water,” Kirk said, as reported by ABC News.
Firefighters quickly launched “Operation Care Bear” to save the family, who had been stuck inside the dark concrete structure for over 12 hours.
Authorities believe that the bears were likely seeking water amid the hot and humid weather when they stumbled into the narrow, one-foot-wide opening on top of the cistern.
Before firefighters could act, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife drained the remaining water from the tank to prevent the animals from drowning.
The original opening of the tank was far too small for first responders to enter or for the mother to squeeze through.
The crew members used a power saw to cut a larger access hole into the side of the tank. They then lowered a ladder inside, creating a makeshift ramp for the bears to climb out.
While one brave cub had managed to escape on its own earlier in the ordeal, the remaining three bears required a bit more coaxing.
“They were exhausted, so it took a few minutes for the first cub to come out, then the second cub got out, and then finally the mother,” said LAFD’s Keith Navarre, according to the news outlet.
Authorities confirmed that the lone cub who had escaped earlier was also safely reunited with the rest of the family as they trotted back into the wild.
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