Family gets visit from orphaned bear cub

Published 1:31 pm Saturday, October 31, 2015

ASTORIA, Ore. — A family from southwest Washington had an unexpected visitor. 

A small black bear cub wandered along Erica and Bruce Hazen’s country road, peeking into their kitchen through a glass door.

One evening, the cub stood alone in the rain, looking for a way into the couple’s home. The Hazens live just across the mouth of the Columbia river from Astoria.

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The family fed the cub apple slices.

After the mother bear didn’t appear for two nights, the Hazens called the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

A wildlife official captured the cub into a bear trap, with the help of more apple slices.

Because he’s healthy, the cub will be taken to a rehabilitation facility where other bear cubs are being raised.

The hope is that he’ll eventually be released into the wild.