Bear cubs rescued after mother killed in car crash

Three baby bear cubs were rescued Monday morning after a car crash north of Oracle that left their mother dead.

According to the Department of Public Safety, troopers from District 6 in Oracle, responded to a crash involving a car and a bear on SR-77 at Dudleyville .

The mother bear was killed instantly after she was struck by the car.

But the troopers were able to capture the trio of now-orphaned cubs and turn the babies over to the Arizona Game and Fish Department in Tucson. The Hayden Police Department as well as a witness in the area helped corral the cubs.

” [The cubs] might not make it out there, so he just wanted to do his part, ” DPS spokewoman Trooper Vanessa Sevilla said.

The cubs were evaluated, then sent to the Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center in Scottsdale.

” They’re only 4 months old, so they’re pretty helpless right now, ” explained James O’Brien of Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center.

There, the cubs will receive rehab and get ready to be potentially released back into the wild.

” Bears are incredibly smart animals, ” O’Brien said. ” They need to be challenged. Our bears here are given games to play and puzzles to do. ”

A first responder who was scratched on the forearm while rescuing the cubs was taken to Oro Valley Hospital for treatment.