Elijah Barkley never dreamed he’d wind up saving a life when he set out earlier this month on a fishing vacation in West Virginia with some friends and relatives.
But he actually did just that.
While traveling back to camp from the river, Barkley was stopped by a forest ranger accompanied by a bear handler. They asked him to be on the lookout for a lone, young bear in the area.
Turns out, the cub was an orphan, apparently having lost his mother — and based on recent sightings, was faring very poorly on his own.
Sure enough, not long after continuing on his way, Barkley spotted the bear in question.
We drew up to him and he wouldn’t budge, so it appeared as though he was exhausted or that something else was wrong, said Barkley. “He just sort of remained there.”
Barkley directed the forest ranger and bear handler to the area by the river where the cub seemed to be about to collapse because they were still in the region.
Joel Rosenthal, the bear handler, owns and operates Point of View Farm, Inc., a facility for rehabilitating wildlife. He had been looking for the lone cub, hoping to find him and rescue him by bringing him to his facility.
It turned out that Barkley had discovered the cub just in time.
The cub’s paws went out from under him as he attempted to cross the river before Rosenthal had a chance to tranquilize him. The cub was now about to drown since he was too weary to even lift his head out of the water.
With the cub drifting away downstream, his death seemingly imminent, Barkley leapt into action.
“I saw his head go down underwater, and that’s when I made the instinctive decision to run after the bear,” he said. “My mind was so solely thinking of getting to that bear as fast as I could that I didn’t think about the risks.”
Barkley traversed the slippery rocks at the riverside and jumped into the freezing water — swimming toward the cub before it was too late.
“I got to him pretty quickly, and immediately grabbed the bear by the scruff on the back of his neck,” Barkley said.
He then hauled the cub to shore.
The infant bear lay still for a while before gently starting to stir. In time, Barkley had arrived at him.
I took him over to [Rosenthal] right away so he could see what was going on, Barkley said.
Now secure, the bear was tranquilized and placed in the bear handler’s truck while being covered in towels.
Those who saw the situation were not blind to the heroism of Barkley’s acts, but he is only grateful that he was able to assist.
Barkley reported that “everyone praised me.” “Never in my life did I imagine that such a thing would happen. I think it was intended for us to be there at that precise time.”
Things are improving for the cub right no
Under Rosenthal’s cautious supervision at the rehabilitation facility, the baby bear is recovering his strength and, ideally, will return to the wild in good health in the upcoming months.
Rosenthal, “He is really little and malnourished, but we feel he will do wonderfully. “As he puts on weight, he will be moved into another enclosure with cubs from the previous year who also lost their moms to hunters. We’re hoping to let him go this summer.”
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