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Deputy rounds up bear cubs after wildlife park escape

By Ben Hooper
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Oct. 17 (UPI) -- A South Dakota sheriff's deputy responding to a unique call ended up babysitting a pair of bear cubs that escaped from a wildlife park.

The Pennington County Sheriff's Office said Deputy Kylie Kintigh responded Sunday evening to a call about the two cubs, which escaped from the Bear Country USA wildlife park, wandering around a residential yard.

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Kintigh, whose father is South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks Regional Supervisor Mike Kintigh, said she had previous experience with wildlife.

"I have had some cool experiences with other wildlife like bobcats and mountain lions," Kintigh told the Rapid City Journal. "I was looking forward to see how this would turn out."

Kintigh said the 75-pound bears excitedly followed her around and were fascinated by her patrol car.

She snapped photos of the bears checking out the vehicle and posted it to the sheriff's office's Facebook page. One of the bears can be seen trying to climb onto the car's hood in one of the photos.

Bear Country workers soon arrived and sedated the animals for the ride home.

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