BOONE, N.C. — A mama bear and two cubs were trapped inside a minivan in Avery County, and two deputies were tasked with freeing the animals. 

This unique rescue call comes just months after Thomas Guinn became an Avery County deputy.

"It was scary," said Guinn."To the den right off the bat."

Guinn and Deputy Scott Bray received the rare call Saturday. Someone took a picture of a cub on top of the van, but they didn't realize there were three bears inside.

"[We] went down, looked inside the back of the vehicle and saw there was a bear staring at us," Bray said.

The battery to the vehicle died, and deputies couldn't unlock the back door, so they used the key and unlocked the front. The heart-pounding moments were caught on body camera footage.

"I did not realize the bear came up to the driver side seat when I was trying to unlock the door, and it caught me off guard when it slapped the window real hard, and I jumped," Bray said.

They hooked a rope to the car door and pulled to open it. Bray says the mother bear got out and stood on her hind legs. That's when they told neighbors to stay inside.

"We were constantly putting our head on a swivel," Bray said.

The deputy stuck his hand in the car, popped open the back door and eventually got the two cubs out, reuniting the family of bears in the yard behind a house.

The deputies said the van had extensive damage from the encounter.

"You can't just take for granted that you're up in the mountains, and there's not a whole lot of population of people that you would normally lock your doors to keep people out. Same thing goes for animals. They are able to unlock vehicles and get in there," Bray said.

He says this is a good reminder to take all food and drinks out of the car and to always look inside before opening the doors.