NORTHERN MICHIGAN -- Three bear cubs who lost their mother in a crash on U.S. 10 have found a new family and a surrogate mother with help from the Department of Natural Resources staff and Vicks VapoRub.

The large black bear's cubs were sighted in a tree near the road shortly after the vehicle crash, which occurred sometime late April 26 or early April 27 on the eastern side of Lake County, said Katie Keen, a DNR wildlife outreach technician.

The mother likely had her young climb the tree to get away from danger near the busy road. She then died along that road, Keen said in an interview with MLive.com and The Grand Rapids Press.

The situation was unfortunate, but things fell into place better than anyone could have asked for. Staff at the DNR were aware of the surviving cubs right away, because others had earlier spotted the mother and offspring together.

Electronic tracking collars are on several sows—female black bears — throughout Michigan as part of a surrogate mother program. The program has been around for a few years, Keen said.

Staff check in on the sows from time to time and are aware when they give birth to their young.

DNR staff searched for a mother with cubs around the same age as those orphaned after the crash — about 4 months old. They found a mother in another Michigan county who had two cubs in the same stage of life.

With the help of Malcolm Vandentoorn of Alpine Tree Service and Ronald Kailing of Trees Inc., the cubs, who only weigh a couple pounds, were gently lifted from the tree along U.S. 10.

"With cubs of that size you just kind of have to grab them," Keen said.

Vandentoorn recalled the experience. His two sons, ages 4 and 5, had been eating lunch with him when he got the call that his help was needed. They stood at the base of the tree and looked up as dad helped rescue the young animals.

Vandentoorn climbed up into the 90-foot White Pine and loaded the cubs into a backpack for the trip down.

"They've got a bite on them and some claws," he said. He compared the feeling of a bite to that of a puppy. "They were scared. They were trying to get away from us."

The process took about a half hour.

Department of Natural Resources staff used tracking technology to locate the surrogate mother and then waited until her own two cubs were up in a tree.

They then covered the three orphaned black bear cubs with Vicks VapoRub, a topical ointment often used to treat the symptoms of a cold. The strong scent of Vicks was enough to mask the scent carried by the orphaned cubs. The cubs were then coaxed into the same tree, waiting for the sow to return.

"When she comes back here she has these cubs that are covered with something gooey so she starts licking them," Keen said.

Pretty soon, the new bears carried her scent and she took them under her care.

It's a tactic that has been used several times before, Keen said.

The cubs will remain with the mother through the summer and den with her through the winter. In the spring, they'll begin to go off on their own.

The scenario unfolded just as DNR staff had hoped, Keen said.

"This is the best-case survival to keep bear cubs in the wild," she said. "This is their best chance."