Trooper Thomas Owens, an officer with the Carroll Police Department in New Hampshire, took a call for a black bear family, trying to cross a road, the NH State Police reported. Rather than getting across quickly, the mama bear, accompanied by four cubs, kept going back and forth.

When Trooper Owens stopped to help, he found the mama seemingly pacing in the road, The Dodo reported, and it wasn’t long before he understood why. The Town of Carroll Police Department was familiar with this particular bear family.

(Photo Credit: Facebook/Town of Carroll Police Department)

“This is the mother that had five cubs out in Bretton Woods,” the department explained in a Facebook post, adding that the day before, they had to pick up one of her babies. The cub, a runt, had been sick, weak, and unable to keep up with its mom and siblings.

In a comment, the Town of Carroll Police Department explained that a bear having five cubs was rare since most typically have only two or three cubs at a time. “It is very, very, rare. This is only the second time we are aware of it in NH,” the department wrote.

As the mama tried to cross the road with her four remaining cubs, at least one of her babies seemed to be refusing to move, according to Reshareworthy. The mom was going back and forth, trying to get the cub to come along. She obviously wanted all four of her cubs to remain with her, but one couldn’t keep up with her and its siblings because it was sick and too weak to move.

Trooper Thomas Owens knew he had to help. “After doing some bear traffic control, we had to take one bear cub in for Fish and Game to be rehabilitated as it was too weak to keep up with its mom and siblings,” the department explained. “This leaves her with three other very healthy cubs that she can now focus on and take care of. The other two will be rehabilitated and returned to the wild when they are stronger.”

Trooper Thomas Owens (Photo Credit: Facebook/NH State Police)

Trooper Owens watched cautiously, and after some time, the mama eventually made the heartbreaking decision to leave the sick cub and continue on her way with the healthy three. The officer was able to then scoop up the weak one so that it could get the help it needed, the department explained.