Volunteers take care of 3 orphaned bear cubs near Lake Tahoe

Bears at the Lake Tahoe Wildfire Care wild animal shelter. (Courtesy Lake Tahoe Wildfire Care)

Caretakers are raising three bear cubs after their mother was struck by a car and killed at Yosemite National Park in California.

KCRA-TV reported the 5-month-old cubs that weigh less than 10 pounds each are being cared for at Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care.

Their mother was killed on the Fourth of July. Yosemite workers were able to catch the cubs, which would have died without help, shortly after their mother was killed.

Staffers and volunteers at the wildlife center hope to reintroduce the cubs to the wild next year after they hibernate and grow. The cubs don’t have names and human contact is kept at a minimum.

The cubs’ mother was the fifth bear to be hit by a vehicle and killed in Yosemite this year.