What would you do if you came across a potentially dangerous creature who was in need of urgent help? Would you keep your distance, or would you swallow back your fear and take the plunge? Well, that’s exactly what happened to the Hurt family from Wisconsin when they came across a bear with a plastic tub stuck on its head and knew that they had to do whatever they could to try and help.
Luckily, their rescue mission was a success and this story has a happy ending – but it might not have been this way without the bravery from the Hurt family.
Brian, Tricia, and their son Brady Hurt were fishing on Marsh-Miller Lake when they spotted a bear who was in urgent need of help. He was swimming in the lake, trying desperately to keep himself afloat as the tub that was stuck on his head began to fill with water. He was slowly suffocating and clearly in a lot of distress, which was going to make the rescue mission rather difficult.
“I didn’t think it even knew which direction to go,” Brian said in an interview with KARE 11.
Apparently, the bear had been sighted for days on land with the jug stuck on his head, but now the Hurt family found themselves in the position to be rescuers. Heroically, they were up to the task and immediately began to bring their boat into a position where Brian could get a good hold of the tub. The dramatic video, which was shared onto KARE 11‘s YouTube channel, shows the moment in which Brian first attempts the rescue.
“We made the first swing past it and I was able to grab the jug and I pulled on it as hard as possible. Then I lost control and slipped off that wet plastic,” Brian said. You could hear the bear puffing as I was pulling on it, breathing very hard and just gasping for air.”
Brian made a second attempt as Brady circled the boat around. Again they approached the bear from behind, and this time their mission was a success. With one great pull, Brian was able to free the bear’s head from the tub, and the grateful creature swam instantly back to shore. He must have been exhausted!
“Once I got it off you could really tell the difference because he could get proper air at that point. It seemed like it revived him quite a bit,” Brian said.
As the bear headed for shore, the Hurt family tried to wrap their heads around what just happened.
“After that I was just kind of like, ‘did that just happen?'” Brady recalled. Tricia added that she’d decided “if the bear comes in, I’m going out.”
The family called the bear Winnie the Pooh’s cousin after the cheesy ball container that was stuck on his head that looked comically like a pot of honey. “Swim happy!” Tricia shouted after the bear once he had been freed. She added: “This has been a night!”
That certainly would have been a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but we’re so grateful to this family for bravely saving the bear! Watch the amazing video below.
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