Bear sightings are not uncommon in the Maritimes but the sight of a Good Samaritan helping to save the life of a bear is perhaps a little more unusual.
Mike Knocton was driving along a road in northern Antigonish County earlier this month when he saw a bear lying in the middle of the road.
Knocton assumed the animal was road kill and decided to move it to the side of the road.
“I got out of my car and I walked over to the bear to pick the animal up and take it by the foot and pull it off the road, but as I reached for it, he picked his head up and hey, this little guy is alive,” says Knocton.
Knocton left the bear at the side of the road, but six hours later, the animal still hadn’t moved.
He decided to place the bear in a large dog kennel so he could take it home. Then he called the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources.
A veterinary student who happens to live next door to Knocton also checked the bear out before DNR officers took the animal to the Shubenacadie Wildlife Park.
“When he came, he was very weak and in poor condition,” says wildlife interpreter Stephanie Patriquin. “Too weak to be anesthetized for X-rays, so they watched him over the next day or so to ascertain there were no broken bones.”
The bear weighs about 50 pounds and appears to be recovering nicely.
“It’s being kept in complete isolation because in order to ensure successful rehabilitation or hope for success, we have to keep him completely isolated and minimize human contact,” says Patriquin.
Knocton admits he doesn’t like taking animals from their environment, but says the bear looked like he needed some help.
“I first thought he was dead,” says Knocton. “If we could give him a second chance at life, well then I was going to do all we could do for him.”
Wildlife officials are hoping to release the bear back into the woods in the next few weeks. They say the bear won’t be released to the same area where he was found, but to an area where he is expected to thrive.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Dan MacIntosh
