US photographer rescues bear cub from jaws of death

A US-based photographer has been hailed a hero on social media after he rescued a bear cub from death.

Corey Hancock was hiking a trail in Oregon when he spotted the cub. Hancock wrote on his Facebook page that the bear was “laying there on his back, seeming by all appearances to be dead. His lips were blue. His eyes were open, but unmoving and hazy. The rain was pouring down, drenching his belly. I might have seen a shallow breath. I thought about my own baby boy back home. The bear looked so much like an infant. Was I just going to stand there and watch it die in the rain? No… I needed to do something.”

So he took the bear with him and started running to his car. “The whole time, I was sure a raging mother bear would come for me.”

Once they got to the car, the baby bear stopped breathing. Hancock performed mouth-to-mouth and the animal started breathing again. The rescuer took him to the vet where he is getting stronger every day, being treated for severe dehydration and starvation.

Hancock could have been fined $6,000 or faced jail time for a year for rescuing the bear, but fortunately nobody is pressing charges.