{"id":448357,"date":"2026-08-30T22:04:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T22:04:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/448357\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T22:04:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T22:04:21","slug":"mother-bear-and-three-cubs-found-trapped-in-bizarre-spot-in-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/448357\/","title":{"rendered":"Mother bear and three cubs found trapped in bizarre spot in California"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

Rescue video captured<\/a> the moments as the mother emerged from the tank, pausing to look around while first responders tried to reassure her.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A mother bear and three cubs were trapped inside a water tank Satuday. LAFD<\/p>\n

\"Authorities<\/p>\n

Authorities said that the bears could possibly have been looking for water amid the humid weather.<\/p>\n

Glendora residents Eric McDonald and Jamie Kirk were the first to spot the distressed bear family inside the tank around 8 a.m.<\/p>\n

“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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Firefighters<\/p>\n

Firefighters had to create a wider opening to the water tank for the ladder to go down. LAFD<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A mother bear and two cubs were rescued by the firefighters while one cub had managed to escape on its own. California Dept. of Fish and Wildlife<\/p>\n

Firefighters quickly launched “Operation Care Bear” to save the family, who had been stuck inside the dark concrete structure for over 12 hours.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Before firefighters could act, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife drained the remaining water from the tank to prevent the animals from drowning.<\/p>\n

The original opening of the tank was far too small for first responders to enter or for the mother to squeeze through.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Firefighters<\/p>\n

Firefighters put down a ladder into the tank for the bears to climb out. LAFD<\/p>\n

\"LAFD<\/p>\n

LAFD officers used a saw to widen the entry to the water tank. LAFD<\/p>\n

While one brave cub had managed to escape on its own earlier in the ordeal, the remaining three bears required a bit more coaxing.<\/p>\n

“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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A mama bear and her three cubs made it out safely after being trapped for hours inside a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":448358,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,177516,9,8,177517,143121,177518,33877],"class_list":["post-448357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-dept","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-eric-mcdonald","tag-hours","tag-jamie-kirk","tag-kirk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=448357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/448358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}