Thomas Owens never imagined that he would be compelled to deal with a massive bear in the middle of the highway. When he was in his senior year at high school, many of his peers were eying colleges to get degrees and go on to be doctors and lawyers.

Owens had another path in mind, though. He wanted to become a state trooper, so he enrolled in the academy. A few years later, Owens became the newest member of the New Hampshire State Police.

Once he became a member of the New Hampshire State Police, Thomas was thrilled to serve and protect his community. Soon enough, though, he would have to face off with the bear.

There’s no way he could have expected the police to receive an anonymous tip that day about a bear on a road by the ski resort at Bretton Woods. In conjunction with Carroll Police nearby, State Police dispatched Thomas to the scene. This wasn’t the first time bear issues were reported…

The incident took place in a road by the Bretton Woods. Over 700 acres of sprawling woodland make this an attractive place for humans and animals alike.

While skiers come to enjoy the natural environment at the nearby resort, animals call this home. Over 200 species of birds live in this area as well as bears, so it’s important for it to be a protected zone. Officer Owens would soon get a glimpse of something that he had never in his life seen before.

As a police officer, he had seen some pretty bad traffic jams, but the chaos on his way to the scene really took the cake – cars were backed up for miles.

Luckily for him, he was a state trooper, and was able to bypass the traffic standstill in order to reach the scene. By the time he got there, the area had been blocked off, giving him a clear view of the bear that was pacing back and forth…

There’s no doubt that any case involving a bear needs to be taken very seriously. Bears, especially black bears, can be extremely dangerous.

This one was gigantic, and there was no telling how much damage she could cause – or how violent she could get – if she became agitated. Thomas had been taught how to deal with dangerous creatures in state trooper training. He never predicted that he would actually need to put this knowledge into action – but now was his chance.

Thomas knew that before he began to deal with the bear, he would need to make sure to prevent any potential collateral damage and prevent the bear from attacking the surrounding motorists.

So he began to shout at all the cars to turn around and drive in the other direction. Meanwhile, he and the other officers put up large steel sheets to cage in the bear. Finally, with the other drivers a safe distance away, Thomas was left to take on the bear…

As Thomas inched closer to the bear, he began to notice that something about the way she was moving was a bit odd.

Firstly, she was pacing back and forth from one side of the road to the other – a type of behavior that Thomas had never seen before. In similar cases, it would have been more common for the bear to just sit still in one place, but for some reason, this bear was clearly restless. Why wasn’t she just getting off the road?

Finally, all the cars had left and Thomas could finally approach the bear. He seized the opportunity to approach the bear carefully as she paced back and forth in distress.

Thomas inched closer and closer, but the bear didn’t even notice him. Thomas wondered what was wrong with the bear and how he could find out without potentially aggravating her. Soon enough, he would see something out of the corner of his eye that would explain why she was acting so strange…

Mothers can be overprotective of their cubs and do whatever they can to keep them from harm, that was when Thomas finally understood the reason behind the bear’s irrational behavior.

She had not one, but three cubs! They were all behind her as she paced from one side of the road to the other, repeatedly doing so. Despite being very small still, the three cubs were already strong and could keep up with their mighty mother.

A mother bear usually has two cubs at most, so for her to have three is already very rare. Thomas was then bewildered to see that there was another cub.

But the little one didn’t seem to be moving, which would explain why the mama bear and her other cubs were pacing, they didn’t want to leave him. The mother was aware that the fourth cub wasn’t getting up. This is when Thomas was witness to something amazing…

It seemed the mother’s maternal instinct was kicking, as she walked up to the motionless bear cub, she lowered her head, as if inspecting it and nudged him slightly with her face.

She did this a few times, pacing to the other side of the road and then back again. The cub still didn’t get up, Thomas was watching in anticipation to see what would happen next at this remarkable scene that very few get to witness.

At this point, it became clear that the mother bear wasn’t able to save him. Thomas knew that his lack of movement meant that something wasn’t right with the cub.

A few more minutes of pacing and nudging, the mother bear eventually left the scene with her other cubs and went back into the woods. Thomas was quite upset to see what had happened, but from where he was sitting, he could see that the cub looked very much alive.

Now that the mother bear had moved, Thomas knew might be able to help. He hurried over to the abandoned cub to inspect him.

Knowing that the mother bear could return and attack him, he quickly examined the cub. It simply lay there, its eyes were closed and he wasn’t moving. All of a sudden, Thomas couldn’t believe it but the cub started moving and finally managed to get up. Had the cub recovered?

Despite the bear cubs initial recovery, it wouldn’t be long until he lost his balance and fell over again. There was no denying that the little cub was sick and needed some immediate medical attention.

Thinking fast, Thomas decided to pick up the bear cub and carry it in his arms until he got to his vehicle. Once inside, Thomas rushed the little bear off to the New Hampshire Fish and Game Center. But it wouldn’t take long before Thomas picked up the cub again and took it somewhere else…

After arriving at the Fish and Game Center, the other officers could tell the cub needed medical attention. They realized that they would instead need to send him to a rehab center in Lyme, New Hampshire instead.

Thomas rushed to get there and was amazed as a team of vets whisked the young cub away and took him in for more serious treatment. Despite working on the cub all night, they had news Thomas didn’t want to hear…

It was clear that the cub’s chances of survival were slim. He didn’t look like he was in good shape at all and Thomas was certain that the little thing would have died had the authorities not arrived on the scene when they did.

However, had the mother stayed with the sick cub, she would have endangered her other cubs as well. Then, Thomas learned something really interesting about the mother bear that happened that day…

As the word spread about Thomas’ story, he soon became the talk of the town. Pretty soon though officials decided to tell Thomas the whole story.

It turned out that the mother bear he had encountered earlier that day had, in fact, had a total of five cubs. That essentially meant that she had lost not one but two of her litter. Whether she lost one or abandoned the other was unclear but Thomas knew what needed to be done…

Thomas was heart-stricken by the thought of a second lost cub and knew that his team had to do something to find that second cub. He wanted to make sure that this family would be safely reunited again.

He explored the woods with a group of rangers and a K9 unit, hoping that the extra nose would help to hone in on the cub’s scent. After many hours of searching, their efforts ended in a surprising way…

As it turned out, the mother bear was onto something when the Carroll police had seen her pacing back and forth in the same place just a couple days before – when they returned to that spot to see if she was still there, they found the fifth cub there instead!

But the cub and the mom must have connected that spot to each other somehow, and hoped to find each other there. But first, the cub needed some medical attention.

It was only a couple of days in intensive care and bottle-feeding before both the fourth and fifth cubs fully recovered.

With their physical and mental stress gone and their happy and playful demeanors returned, Thomas and the vets on hand were having just the best time hanging out with the cubs. They didn’t want their time together to end, and of course, they worried about their safety out and about. But they knew time was near to return them to their mom.

Determined to reunite the mother and baby cubs and send the complete family back to their regular lives, the staff tended to their health diligently to make sure they were physically ready.

Although their behavior had gone back to normal, there could always be more problems hiding under the surface. Despite the cubs’ restlessness, Thomas took care of them while the vets finalized all of their tests – and apparently, some important people took note of his unfailing devotion to this mission…

Unexpectedly, the New Hampshire State Police decided to share the story. After praising him for the dedication and expertise he had exhibited during the entire ordeal with the cubs, many others on social media chimed in to praise him as well – calling him the guardian angel of these bears.

After that, he knew he couldn’t rest easy unless he kept checking up on them from that point on. Today, Thomas continues to protect the bears of Carroll out of the kindness of his heart.