By Peter Holley, Washington Post

The bear cub was emaciated, soaking wet and barely breathing, its stuffed-animal-sized body lying face up in a meadow. It would almost certainly die within minutes.

As Corey Hancock stood over the cub on a remote trail near Oregon’s Santiam River Monday evening, the 41-year-old father didn’t see a bear — he saw a baby in distress.

A feeling of panic descended as Hancock realized he had minutes to make a decision. He could watch the cub die in the rain, or he could scoop the animal up, risking the wrath of a raging mother.

After 10 minutes of waiting for any sign of the mother, Hancock chose to act. He wrapped the cub in his flannel shirt and a rainproof sack and ran the mile-and-a-half to the trailhead, where his car was parked. After posting a plea for help on Facebook, he rushed the cub to Turtle Ridge Wildlife Center in Hancock’s hometown of Salem, performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation along the way when it appeared the animal had stopped breathing.

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