- Tricia Hurt and her family went out fishing at Marsh-Miller Lake on Sunday when they noticed something odd on the water.
- They thought it was a dog but as it came nearer, they realized it was a bear with its head trapped in a plastic barrel.
- So they quickly acted to save the poor animal and when they finally did it swam away leaving them happy to have saved the day!
A family from Wisconsin had the chance of saving a young black bear after its head got stuck in a plastic container—and it was such a rare and special experience.
On Sunday, Tricia Hurt went out fishing with her husband and their son at Marsh-Miller Lake when they noticed something odd in the water.
Initially they thought it was just a dog cooling down in the lake but then they realized it was much bigger and very hairy as it moved closer to them.
“I said, ‘That ain’t no dog. I think that’s a bear.’ We got closer and I said, ‘Yeah, that’s a bear that got hungry and got its head stuck in a bucket,'” she told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
They noticed how the bear was struggling and had difficulty breathing while the water was seeping slowly into the barrel. So they quickly moved to save the poor animal and free him. They also managed to capture it in a video which has since gone viral on Facebook.
“We got a bear here. Poor thing’s got a tub on its head,” she says, as a bear struggles to paddle in the water with the plastic container on its head. “Oh, he’s scared.”
After some failed attempts, Tricia ‘s husband was finally able to pull the bucket off the bear’s head and he swam away while they all cheered.
“We knew that if we didn’t do something, we are pretty sure it would not have made it to shore,” Tricia told CNN. “‘It was really huffing and puffing,’ my husband said.”
Later on the family learned from a nearby resort bar that the bear had the container on his head for about three to four days before their accidental rescue. Although people have already notified the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources about it, the officers had difficulty finding the wild animal.
“We were so excited! We did our good deed for the day,” she said. “We will never ever do this again, and it felt good to help the poor bear. You don’t like to see animals struggle.”
Source: PEOPLE.Com
