The Great Smoky Mountain Journal
Tuesday, January 01, 2019 03:01 PM
Two Gatlinburg Employees Help Free Trapped Baby Bear From Garbage Bin Near City
Levi Whaley said he and his coworker, Aj Rayfield, were dumping a dumpster on Ski Mountain Road when they saw a bear acting very agitated. When they got a closer look, they saw a baby bear was stuck in one of the garbage pens and guessed the larger bear was its mother. Whaley said the mother bear was "very distressed" and that she ran back to their truck several times.
Whaley said he and Rayfield wanted to help get the cub out and decided to try on their own. We "thought if we could use our ratchet strap off the top of the garbage truck and lasso the handle, we could maybe raise" the top of the pen.
The two men eventually got the lid up, and the cub got out. He said the mom appeared to thank them.
Though he said the adventure was "a risky move" they did a good deed.
When WVLT News reached out to Whaley, he said that the incident he saw today is becoming a "real problem" and that this is not the first time this has happened. He said that people in the area need to be mindful to latch the garbage pens.
