JUNEAU -- State wildlife officials euthanized two black bear cubs after their mother was killed in a collision with a motorcycle.
Juneau police say the sow ran in front of the motorcycle Thursday.
The driver, identified only as a 58-year-old man, was wearing a helmet and taken to a hospital for treatment of what police Sgt. Chris Gifford called serious but non-life threatening injuries.
Stephanie Sell, an area management biologist with the Department of Fish and Game, said the agency responded to a call to pick up a dead bear but realized the sow had been lactating. She says two young cubs were found in a tree nearby.
She says no placement was available for them, and they would have suffered if they had been left on their own.