South Lake Tahoe Woman Films Mama Bear Rescuing Cub In Her Garage

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE (CBS13) - A South Lake Tahoe homeowner captured incredible video of a bear cub trapped inside her garage and the momma bear doing whatever it took to rescue her baby.

It's impossible to stop watching the video as the baby bear hangs on to garage door tracks, flings its legs around trying to find solid ground, sees the ladder, probably the same one it used to get up there.

One try. Two tries. And it sticks. Down the ladder goes baby into mama's massive yet loving arms.

All of it was captured by Judy Coover.

"I had one foot in the door here, so I had an easy exit plan," she told CBS13 on Monday. "I was tempted to go and pick him up, but I thought 'No, where there's a baby bear there's a mama bear."

Yes, a 500- to 600-pound mama just a few feet away trying to open the garage.

"It lifted a foot off the ground, then slammed back shut, lifted up, slammed back shut," Judy said.

It took several tries before the bear got a good grip and opened the manual door high enough for the cub to scamper back out.

Judy got pictures of mom, the acrobatic one and another cub escaping into the El Dorado National Forest. Little do they know, they're international stars. The YouTube video is taking off almost as quickly as the bears did.

"I had friends calling me telling me it's gonna go viral," Judy said. "I'm like, 'What's viral?'"

Judy's certainly gotten a crash course. The still photographer posts plenty on her website, but it's the video that's getting her world-wide attention.

"Thousands and thousands of comments on email and on YouTube," she said.

And you would think coming so close to a cub this curious is a rare bear encounter, but it's happened to Judy before. About eight years ago another bear barged into her garage, but he could never make it big in Hollywood the way the cute cub already has.