TRUCKEE, Calif. – The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is currently monitoring a sow and its yearling after removing the pair from an apartment parking lot near Northstar California Resort earlier this week.

The Bear League received a call Monday morning, March 3, around 6:30 a.m. reporting a mother bear may have been hit by a car and was located with its yearling in the Sawmill Heights Apartments parking lot off Northstar Drive.

In a circulating TikTok video on the incident, cones surround the emotional sight in which a yearling cub sits over its laid out mother among parked cars. Occasionally the young bear appeared to try and stir its mother by grabbing her face or nipping at her ears. The mother would at times raise her head.

Both the league and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) responded to the incident. In the seven hours at the location, the Bear League said they observed the mother bear showing signs consistent with a concussion or other head trauma.

According to CDFW, the agency removed the sow and yearling from the crowded public site for their safety and the safety of those around them.

The agency says it tagged both the sow and yearling, and released them into the wilderness, away from people per the advice of a wildlife veterinarian and wildlife biologist experts.

The department states it is continuing to monitor them remotely and determine if further intervention is necessary.

The Bear League expressed concerns for both the mother bear and its cub as they await an answer on their status, “We fear she is dead and the cub will perish without her.”

The Tribune will provide updates as it gathers more information.