KTIV NewsChannel 4 Sioux City IA: News, Weather and SportsMan rescues bear cub snared in fishing net

Man rescues bear cub snared in fishing net

UNDATED (KTIV) -- For Alaska homeowners like Dane Havard, who lives on the Anchorage Hillside, it's not uncommon to see animals right in the backyard, but Monday Havard was witness to an unusual rescue and he caught it on video.

His neighbor helped free a baby black bear that was wrapped up in a dip net.

"John, my neighbor, decided to try to pull the truck up, throw out a tow strap with a hook on the end, and try to grab the net without getting out of the truck obviously," Havard said.

The plan was to drag the baby bear back into the yard and cut a hole in the net so the sow could get the cub out safely, but the mother black bear wasn't interested in being helped.

"She was not going to let him get out of the truck and you can hear on the video he's saying, 'Come on, I wanna free her, I wanna free him,' and she just wasn't going to let him do it," Havard said.

After a few minutes, the young black bear was finally freed after its mother ripped through the net.

The mother bear then quickly took hold of the cub, giving it a true bear hug.

"It's almost as if she's saying, 'Wait until I get you home, I told you not to go up there,' kind of like I do my own kids," Havard said.

What you don't see on the video, because of where the camera was shooting from was the sow charging at the man who tried to free the cub, but she did not attack him.