{"id":564029,"date":"2026-04-04T11:51:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T11:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/564029\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T11:51:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T11:51:11","slug":"un-bear-ably-cute-nj-troopers-rescue-bear-cub-from-busy-highway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/564029\/","title":{"rendered":"Un-bear-ably cute! NJ troopers rescue bear cub from busy highway"},"content":{"rendered":"

This was some bear hug.<\/p>\n

A New Jersey state trooper responded to a bizarre call April 1, but it was no joke \u2014 an abandoned bear cub was sitting in a roadside ditch along 1-78 East in Union Township.<\/p>\n

So the cop did what officers do best \u2014and launched into rescue mode, scooping the baby bear up and bringing it to safety.<\/p>\n

\"AA New Jersey state trooper beams with delight after rescuing this adorable cub from a roadside ditch. New Jersey State Police<\/p>\n

\u201cI got the call, and I was alone, so I drove out to the spot, and when I got there, I saw a bunch of good Samaritans there, and the little bear was on the side of I-78 near a fence,\u201d said the trooper, who asked to remain anonymous, to The Post.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want him to run out onto the highway, so I went after him, and he was in some bushes, and he did give me a little run for the money.<\/p>\n

\u201cI chased around after him and eventually caught him,\u2019\u2019 the trooper said.<\/p>\n

\"BlackThe adorable cub appears to play hide-and-seek in the police cruiser. New Jersey State Police<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was tiny, maybe 10 pounds and looked very young, like he might have been born recently.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother officer arrived to help, and we managed to get him into the patrol car.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adorable photos released by the police on their Facebook page <\/a>show the un-bear-ably cute cub snuggling up with a trooper, who is visibly beaming with excitement.<\/p>\n

The tiny brown bear was also pictured playfully peeking from behind a seat of the cops\u2019 police cruiser.<\/p>\n

\u201cPicked up on I-78 for suspicious levels of adorable,\u201d a fan wrote in response to the photos.<\/p>\n

The trooper who spoke with The Post said he took his new furry buddy back to his police barracks, \u201cand right away, we contacted Fish and Wildlife, who were there in 20 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The troopers and wildlife officials soon pieced together the cub\u2019s tragic back story.<\/p>\n

A few days before, an adult female bear, believed to be its mother, was found dead in the median of I-78 near where the cub was found.<\/p>\n

It was apparently struck by a tractor trailer or another heavy vehicle, the trooper said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe figured that was the cub\u2019s mother and the cub didn\u2019t know what to do so had been wandering around by itself for a day or two\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In a heart-warming turn of events, the wildlife officials told the troopers they were caring for a mother bear who had two cubs the same age \u2014 and they had little doubt she would be happy to take in the orphan cub.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat made us all really happy,\u201d the officer said. \u201cThe cub will have a new mom and a family.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cute cub left its mark on the cop.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been a trooper for two-and-a-half years,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd this is by far the most memorable call I\u2019ve ever had.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a once-in-a-lifetime call, and I was happy I caught it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Black bears are native to New Jersey and can reach 400 pounds when fully grown according to the New Jersey Department of Wildlife Protection.<\/p>\n

They emerge from hibernation between March and May.<\/p>\n

-Additional reporting by Ella Morrison<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This was some bear hug. A New Jersey state trooper responded to a bizarre call April 1, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":564030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[3755,19122,1997,20430,79,61582,194,201],"class_list":{"0":"post-564029","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-animal-rescue","9":"tag-bears","10":"tag-new-jersey","11":"tag-rescue","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-state-troopers","14":"tag-us-news","15":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=564029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/564030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}