By Lauren Penington
The Denver Post
DENVER — A bear cub searching for food followed its nose to a nearby dumpster, only to be met with a nasty surprise when it found itself trapped.
Douglas County, Colorado, sheriff deputy Lee Jazombek responded to the call of the distressed bear and met up with Colorado Parks and Wildlife officer Sean Dodd, who was already on scene.
The two surveyed the situation from the bed of a pickup truck to determine how to help the cub climb out without putting anyone else in danger.
In a video posted by the sheriff’s department, Jazombek said he noticed a chain-link fence sitting to the side of the dumpster.
Together, Jazombek and Dodd worked to slowly tip the fence in at an angle, and support it with a wooden plank, so the bear could climb out on the make-shift ramp.
After the ramp was secure, a second CPW officer drove the truck Jazombek and Dodd were standing on away from the dumpster to allow the cub to escape and find its mother.
“There he goes, that’s awesome, that’s awesome,” Dodd said in the video as the cub fled from the dumpster and met up with its mom.
In the video, Jazombek said he’d always had a soft spot in his heart for wildlife after working in the mountains outside Sedalia and Deckers.
“Our deputies never know what kind of calls they will respond to,” Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly said in a Thursday news release. “I am so proud of Deputy Jazombek’s compassion and ingenuity in caring for this bear cub and the people in the area.”
In the news release, the sheriff’s office asked residents to exercise caution when encountering wildlife and to dispose of food and trash properly to avoid attracting bears into neighborhoods.
“Every time you call saying that ‘The bear’s in my neighborhood,’ they’re only there because someone forgot to take the trash inside,” Jazombek said in the video.
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