There is a hero inside all of us, I believe. Yet, not everyone is prepared to make a sacrifice and risk his own wellbeing to save an animal.
That is why people were fascinated by the heroic act of Adam Warwick, a biologist with the Wildlife Commission, who risked his own life to rescue a 400-lb bear from drowning!
It was reported that the bear followed his nose, left his home in Osceola National Forest, and went to a residential area in Alligator Point, Florida.
When Florida residents spotted a black bear sniffing through their garbage, they were alarmed, so wildlife officials decided to sort things out.
They decided to shoot the bear with a tranquilizer dart, but things didn’t go according to plan.
The 400-pound bear started to panic and got confused, so he ran into the ocean and started swimming into the Gulf!
Fortunately, Adam was quick to help! He jumped into the water to save the bear, as by then, the animal couldn’t move his legs and couldn’t swim.
Adam explained:
“The bear started to swim, started to make the four-mile swim across the harbor. And so, I looked at (a colleague) and I said, ‘I’ve got to go out there and stop him.’
So, I took off my shirt and shoes, jumped in the water, and swam in the direction to head him off and keep him from going into deeper water.
Once I did that, I got in front of him, tried to create some splashing and some commotion, and tried to get him to go back into shore. But he wasn’t having any of that.”
He continued:
“ The scariest part was probably when he decided — he started looking at me as if he wanted to climb up on me to keep from drowning and, at one point, he reared up on his hind legs, so I’m looking at a six-and-a-half-foot tall bear.
Instead of lunging forward, he fell straight back and was submerged for a couple of seconds and, that’s kinda when I moved in.”
He held onto the bear and swam him to the shore, which was 75 feet away. The bear couldn’t keep his head above water as well, but Adam did his best not to let him go under.
He eventually brought the bear to the shore safely, and a backhoe operator helped to load him onto a truck and return him to the Osceola National Forest.
Fortunately, Adam was not injured and had only a few scratches.
Unbelievable!
What a courageous and kind-hearted man!
Sources:
www.onegreenplanet.org
www.majesticanimals.net
www.cbsnews.com
