Law enforcement officers are often called upon to help people in need, but a few sheriff deputies for the Placer County Sheriff's Office in Lake Tahoe went above and beyond for one family of bears.
Video showed the mamma bear and another cub milling around the dumpster while the other baby cub can be heard crying out after it became trapped inside a dumpster outside a King's Beach, California motel. The sheriff's office was alerted to the incident and several deputies were sent out to help the trapped cub.
When deputies arrived, they discovered the mamma bear and the sibling attempting their own rescue operation by trying to open the dumpster themselves. After several (adorable) attempts, the two bears stepped back, allowing the deputies to help.
Video posted to the Placer County Sheriff's Office's Facebook page showed deputies carefully opening the lid of the dumpster and then gingerly place a ladder inside the box for the bear cub to use to get out. As soon as the ladder was placed inside, the bear cub can be seen climbing up the ladder, poking his nose out into the nighttime air.
The bear cub eventually made his way out of the dumpster and then walked off, presumably to rejoin his mom and sibling back out in the trees.
"Tuesday morning Placer County Sheriff’s deputies received a call from a Kings Beach motel that a bear cub was trapped in their dumpster. When deputies arrived at the motel, they found the cub’s sibling trying to open the dumpster to rescue their trapped brother/sister," the sheriff's office wrote.
"Deputies Bryant, Staley and Nevins quickly came up with a game plan to free the cub from the dumpster. Watch the video below to see how the bear cub was rescued."
Photo: Placer County Sheriff's Office