When Dean Hornberger and his girlfriend Samantha Eigenbrod saw a photo of a bear who had been struggling with an object stuck on his head for over a month, they decided to try to find and help the bear.

What might have been a straightforward rescue turned into an adventure when they caught up with the bear.

The young black bear had been roaming through Clarion County in western Pennsylvania with what looked like a bucket over his head. According to Krissy Elder, who snapped the photo that Dean and Samantha saw, the Pennsylvania Game Commission was contacted but they told her they could not do anything while the bear was healthy and “mobile.”

Dean, who is an animal rescue volunteer, enlisted help from a few of his friends to help him with the rescue, which took place on Labor Day in 2014. They searched for a few hours for the bear and were about to give up when they saw him on the side of the road.

Dean first tried to wrestle the object off the bear’s head, but it was stuck on too tight and the bear slipped out of his grasp and ran away. The rescuers gave chase and ended up in a giant mud hole. They soon discovered that the “bucket” was actually a rubber air bag normally used to cushion tractor trailers and was fastened tightly around the bear’s neck with a metal ring.

The video is pretty unbelievable and we do not suggest anyone attempting rescues like this—but it is nice to see a happy ending for the curious bear.

Watch what these gutsy men did to help free the bear in the video below and share the rescue with your friends!

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Much like human mothers, mama bears are very protective of their young, however for them, it’s a much more intense world out there in the wild. They have to protect their cubs from everything…

There’s certainly no denying every mother’s connection to their children, regardless of the species, and it’s fascinating to witness in the wild.

Mother bears have a battle with their young right from birth as many grizzly males will possibly attack them in attempt to breed the female again. Cubs typically stay with their mother for 1-3 years, and sometimes as often as 4 years, however she won’t breed until the young bear has separated and went off on its own.

Especially since cubs are also some of the cutest young animals out there, as they come out looking just like teddy bears for the first bit of their life.

This brown bear mother was out catching some fish for her and the cubs, a favorite for bears in Alaska.

As she grabs onto the salmon, her cubs are out in the water learning the ropes. She heads back in and one of the cubs jumps right onto her back and holds on to save some energy on the way in.

As the description on the video explains, this is a very young cub:

“A spring brown bear cub or COY (cub of the year), meaning the cub was born that spring, riding on its mother while crossing an Alaskan river, located within Katmai National Park and Preserve.

They tend to do this when very young and small. Not all cubs and mothers behave this way. Mothers tend to allow this behavior for only a short time.

As the cubs grow it slows her down from getting food and teaching them all the necessities in order to survive.”

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Tough enough to withstand the impact of a train and subsequently father seven in 10 cubs within the area, the world's toughest bear is quite the beast.

Nicknamed "The Boss", the mega-sized, 600-pound bear is believed to be the largest and oldest inhabitant of Banff National Park, Canada, where the beast hibernates and hunts for food.

The Boss is believed to have fathered 70% of the cubs within his territory and sits top of the food chain in the area, with the 43 stone titan even killing other grizzly bears.

Jason Leo Bantle has captured images of The Boss, who "doesn't pose for long" but is known as "one of the last bears in the area" to sleep in the park.

Bantle said: "The Boss, known to be in his mid-twenties, has somehow achieved longevity when many grizzly bears, a species known to be sensitive to human presence, tend to succumb in densely human areas.

"As a result, he is possibly the largest bear in Banff National Park, with an estimated weight of 600 pounds.

Considering one of the few other people to receive the nickname "Boss" is Born to Run legend Bruce Springsteen, the titan that tears through other grizzly bears is in good company.

Bantle continued: "He can be recognized by his right ear, which is missing a portion of the top and distinguishes him from all other grizzlies in the area.

"He spends a large amount of his time along the train tracks foraging for grains spilled from the railcars and foraging off other animals that may have been struck and killed by trains.

Considering one of the few other people to receive the nickname "Boss" is Born to Run legend Bruce Springsteen, the titan that tears through other grizzly bears is in good company.

Bantle continued: "He can be recognized by his right ear, which is missing a portion of the top and distinguishes him from all other grizzlies in the area.

"He spends a large amount of his time along the train tracks foraging for grains spilled from the railcars and foraging off other animals that may have been struck and killed by trains.

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‘We were all a little shocked,’ says eyewitness to family of bears swimming at South Lake Tahoe

Footage has sparked a debate online that showcases a bear and her cubs swimming at a California beach during the heatwave currently engulfing major swaths of the US West.

In the video, a mother black bear is seen swimming in Lake Tahoe with her three cubs on a crowded beach with people trying to beat the heat on South Lake Tahoe. According to new reports, the temperature hit 32C. Temperatures have recently hit as high as 48C.

Some believe the bear was running away from the heat. However, locals have pointed out that bears are not as scared of people as many believe.

Throughout the heatwave, there have been reports of animals being impacted by the record-breaking temperatures the region is experiencing. Habitats have been impacted by the forest fires, droughts and other environmental consequences.

“I live in Lake Tahoe, this isn’t weird. We run into bears at least weekly at my house. More so because I walk my dogs twice a day. They don’t bug people. It hasn’t been over 92 the past week. Yes, that is hot for this time, but not abnormal to see a bear & cubs taking a dip,” wrote someone in response.

“We are in their territory when we’re up in the Foothills and the Sierra [Nevada],” Lt Nelson Resendes from the Placer County Sheriff’s Office told KCRA. “Don’t feed them, don’t entice them, don’t provoke them and, obviously in a setting like this … don’t approach them … respect their space.”

Local authorities, such as the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Placer County Sherriff’s Office, are monitoring the situation and working to tackle the problem of bears ending up in areas with high levels of human population.

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BEAT THE HEAT: The record-breaking weekend temperatures in the West drove this bear family to seek relief in the cool waters of Lake Tahoe. https://t.co/CZaiomFtoE pic.twitter.com/D1Vhx4PI9B

— ABC News (@ABC) July 14, 2021

A family of boaters saved a young bear they spotted swimming with a large plastic jar stuck on his head.

Tricia Hurt and her family were fishing on Marsh-Miller Lake in Wisconsin when they spotted the bear with the bin over his head. The bear had been spotted on land by locals for several days in a row, but now the bear was swimming in the middle of the lake and struggling to survive.

Not only was the bear was in danger of drowning as the container was slowly filling with water, but it was struggling to breathe.

Tricia instructed her son, Brady, to steer the boat close to the animal while her husband, Brian, attempted to pull the bin off the bear’s head.

Brian told KARE 11 that he could hear the bear struggling to breathe. He wasn’t able to pull the jar off in their first attempt because the plastic was too slippery.

They tried again as the exhausted and frightened bear swam away from their boat. Tricia directed Brady to get in front of the bear but makes sure to voice her concern that the bear not end up in the boat!


After several attempts, Brian successfully pulls the plastic container off of the bear’s head much to everyone’s relief. Tricia happily tells the bear to, “Swim happy.”

Brian said the bear immediately could breathe more easily when the bin was removed. And Tricia shared on Facebook that she “Never dreamt we would ever do this in our life time,” and added, “He made it to shore after all that.”


The container stuck on the bear’s head was a large bulk Cheesies container and illustrates just how deadly plastic garbage can be for wild animals. For the safety of all animals please make sure to dispose of your garbage properly.
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One couple was treated to an ultra-rare sight on their Albertan road trip. What they thought was just an ordinary family of grizzlies turned out to be more after they realized one baby had an all-white head.

Parks Canada said they're putting "measures in place" to protect the white-headed bear cub. Calgary resident Julia Turner Butterwick told Narcity she and her family were on their way home from Banff National Park when they spotted the strange bear. It was Sunday, June 14.

"We've seen quite a few bears on our drive, we saw probably three or four grizzlies and three black bears that day," she said.

"We came across this mama grizzly she was just right on the side of the highway."

When she noticed the mama had cubs with her, Turner Butterwick took out her phone and snapped a quick picture. It wasn't until later that she discovered one cub's strange appearance.

"We didn't stop, we just kept going, we didn't want to disturb them," she continued. "When I zoomed in on the photo I said yeah, he's got a fully white head I've never seen anything like that."


Turner Butterwick later reported the sighting to Parks Canada. They thanked her for sharing the picture and said it was "really unique."

"They said that they were going to put some measures in place to help protect the family and just asked that I not release the exact location," she said, to stop photographers from searching for the bear.

Narcity has reached out to Parks Canada for comment and we will update this story when we receive a response. Several wildlife experts told Global News that they'd never seen anything like the cub's specific colour pattern.

However, all-white grizzlies have been reported before, and very recently, one had been spotted in Banff.

"I love seeing wildlife, I love animals, and so anytime I see animals in the wild, it's exciting. It's especially exciting for me to see it through my four-year-old's eyes," said Turner Butterwick. "I just wish I took more than one picture."

UPDATE Wildlife experts say the death of a mother grizzly bear and her two cubs — including a rare, blond-headed grizzly — in Banff National Park is a major loss to the population.

Parks Canada has said that an adult bear was struck and killed Sept. 3 by a Canadian Pacific Railway train on a rail line through the Alberta park.

“She was about 10 years old and had been known to Parks Canada,” Dwight Bourdin, resource conservation manager with the agency’s Lake Louise, Yoho and Kootenay field unit, said in an interview this week.

The bear, known as No. 143, spent most of her time in the backcountry of Banff and the adjacent Yoho and Kootenay national parks in British Columbia, Bourdin said.

She was spotted earlier this summer with two cubs, including the one with a blond head and brown body. But Bourdin said neither cub has been spotted since before the mother bear was killed.

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Wolf pups are quite small when they’re born and their size, coupled with a lack of defense skills at that young age, means they’re quite vulnerable to other predators. Luckily for these wolf pups, mom and dad were able to save the day when a bear got a little too close!

Note: All 4 pups are healthy and well.

"We got this crazy footage in early May 2020! The Paradise Pack pups are fortunate that their parents were nearby to fend off this bear. The pack only consists of a breeding pair (Wolves V077 and V085) and we know from GPS-locations that the pair are, at times, away from the den getting food at the same time meaning the pups are left alone. If the bear had visited when both wolves were away, the bear could easily have killed all 4 pups! The pack continued to use this den for 2 more days before moving their pups a short ways to another den." Voyageurs Wolf Project

The Voyageurs Wolf Project, which is a collaboration between the University of Minnesota and Voyageurs National Park, was started to address one of the biggest knowledge gaps in wolf ecology—what do wolves do during the summer?

Their goal is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the summer ecology of wolves in the Greater Voyageurs Ecosystem in northern Minnesota. Specifically, they want to understand the predation behavior and reproductive ecology (e.g., number of pups born, where wolves have dens, etc) of wolves during the summer.

The GPS-collars reveal the locations of den and rendezvous sites, which is where pups are kept during the summer. By gathering detailed information on both the predation behavior and reproductive ecology of wolves, they are able to connect critical facets of wolf behavior during the summer to important ecological factors, prey populations, and human interactions.


Given initial results of our research—which was described as “a breakthrough" by international wolf experts—we have an unparalleled opportunity to provide critical information for the successful conservation and management of wolves, their prey, and the southern boreal ecosystem. This work benefits not only Minnesota’s iconic Northwoods, but boreal systems around the globe from North America to Asia.
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A bear gave a Florida family a Christmas surprise when he showed up at their home, investigated their Christmas decorations, and then rang their doorbell!

In the funny video recorded by the doorbell camera, a small black bear appears on the family’s porch. Curious if there were any potential treats hiding in the Christmas decorations he sniffs them.

He knocks over the Christmas figurines to see if there is anything inside of them.

Not finding anything, he goes over to the doorbell. Perhaps he thinks there are better pickings indoors…

According to the homeowner, nothing was damaged, though the snowman decoration did lose its head. The decoration was easily fixed and the homeowner and their family said they were very entertained by the situation!

The video, which was shared by the family using Ring’s Neighbors app, started recording when the bear stepped onto the family’s property and sent a notification to their phone.


The Florida black bear (Ursus americanus floridanus) is a subspecies of the American black bear that has historically ranged throughout most of Florida and southern portions of Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi. The large black-furred bears live mainly in forested areas and have seen recent habitat reduction throughout the state due to increased human development as well as habitat modifications within bear habitat.


Black bears are shy and reclusive. They use various means to express their emotions including vocalizations, body language, and scent marking. They are mainly solitary, except when females have dependent cubs or during mating season. Although they are solitary mammals, they are not territorial, and typically do not defend their range from other bears, but will defend a food source from other bears. Black bears have good eyesight (especially at close range), acute hearing and an excellent sense of smell that is believed to be the best of any land mammal.

A judge sentenced a woman to 15 days in jail for freeing a crying cub from a bear trap.

Municipal Court Judge James Devine sentenced Catherine McCartney, 50, on Thursday, NJ.com reported. McCartney, who has a record of arrests related to bear hunt protests, pleaded guilty to obstructing “the administration of law and the prevention of the lawful taking of wildlife”.

McCartney, a dedicated animal rights activist, plans to appeal the sentence, relating to the incident in in Vernon, New Jersey.

In a statement she read in court, McCartney said she did not regret her decision in rescuing the bear cub from the painful trap.

“These animals are innocent and so I made the moral decision to let the bear go so he could run back to his mother, and it was the right thing to do,” she said.

The incident in question took place in October in a condominium complex. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection said it installed two culvert traps inside the complex campus to capture a bear—known as “Momma Bear” by activists—following two incidents with residents. None of these incidents resulted in injury.


Mark Nagelhout, who helped McCartney free the cub, also plead guilty to the same charges. However, he did not receive a jail sentence since this was his first offence.

Both defendants were also fined $1,316.
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First, there is a long snout with two black nostrils as full stops. The mouth is open, as if in shock. Eyes that could be made of glass in a huge, wide head beneath cartoonish round ears.

He waits. The metal shutter is lifted. The eyes peer, anxious. And then a huge paw, nails so long they remind me of Freddy Krueger, takes a very first step on to grass. Kai, a 17-year-old Ussuri brown bear who has lived in a 6ft by 9ft cage since being snatched as a cub from his mother – who was shot by hunters – places a paw on something that isn’t cold, hard concrete. Yikes!

He snorts. He can’t believe it’s soft. He spies a toy, donated by the local fire service, one of many made from old hoses. Kai has never owned a toy. He picks it up and, thrilled, carries it inside his den.

The keepers at Yorkshire Wildlife Park near Doncaster don’t want to cheer, as that would be alarming. Instead, water leaks from eyes as phones are held aloft to record this momentous moment.Kai is one of four bears who existed as ‘living’ exhibits in the Ainu Culture Museum on Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan’s islands. The cubs were once sacrificed, but when that practice ended they were simply locked up. These brown bears are rare: there are only about 10,000 left in Japan.

Eighteen months ago, Western tourists, shocked at the barren conditions, brought the four bears to the attention of Wild Welfare, a UK charity that helps captive wild animals. The two brothers, Kai and Riku, would eat, then vomit, as that gave them something to do; all four bears would pace, driven mad with boredom.

‘The museum wanted the bears rehomed,’ Georgina Groves of Wild Welfare tells me. ‘They didn’t have the facilities. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find anywhere in Japan that would take them.’


She got in touch with Yorkshire Wildlife Park (YWP), which has an incredible reputation for rehabilitating wild animals. They said yes, of course. Kai and his fellow inmates were flown 5,400 miles from Japan to the UK, where they arrived on August 3. DHL provided air-conditioned road transport – at a discount price – while the bears were flown in the hold by Japanese Airlines. The journey alone cost £150,000.


A team of five vets – two from Japan – helped with the move, which began in 36C heat. Only Hanako, the 27-year-old female, the most inquisitive of the four, went willingly into a crate. Amu, 27, a gentle giant, and brothers Kai and Riku had to be tranquillised. The bears were flown first to Tokyo for the connecting flight to Heathrow.

Alan Tevendale, one of the vets, says: ‘We offered them water when we landed and fans were placed around the cages. Conditions were not ideal. We were anxious.’


When the bears arrived in Yorkshire, tired and confused, they were given time to emerge from the crates, and venture into their huge, enriched dens: deep straw beds, water, and fruit, vegetables, yogurt and eggs. They were also offered strawberries and, you guessed it, honey. As greedy as Pooh, the new diet ‘never touched the sides’ says Debbie Porter, animal manager at YWP, one of a team of five devoted to their care.


It’s all a far cry from their diet in Japan, where they lived on scraps. ‘We have many, many tins of pilchards,’ adds Debbie.

Hanako and Amu are hidden away in two dens out of bounds to anyone other than their carers: they will take a few weeks to recover from their journey, not to mention their 27-year confinement in a cage where they were only able to take four steps. But today is the first time the two brothers (‘They do look very alike,’ says Debbie) have been offered the freedom of the four-acre, £400,000 compound, enriched, thanks to volunteers, with climbing frames, a hammock, a giant tyre and a wobble pole.


Kai’s door is opened first, and he takes that all-important first step. After a sojourn back indoors with his fireman’s toy, he ventures out again, this time much bolder. Riku, the shyer of the two, refuses to leave his den, standing on his back paws unable to believe his beady eyes. But there is no stopping Kai! He’s cantering!

Within minutes, having ripped the bark off a tree stump as easily as if it were a plaster, he has discovered the lake. Whoosh!

The Greater Sudbury Police Service says it acted appropriately earlier this week when officers killed an injured bear cub.

The cub was struck by a vehicle near the airport, but according to witnesses, he was moving about after the collision.

"We saw something in the middle of the road that turned out to be a bear cub. Someone had hit it in their car and driven on and left him," Anne Chadwick said on Facebook.

"Another car stopped at the same time as us and we helped get him to the side of the road to safety whilst I called 911 for help. It initially looked like he might have broken either one or two of his legs on one side but as time progressed he was weight bearing on both legs and trying to get up and move about. All positive signs."

Chadwick dropped off her husband at the airport and returned to the scene. She waited with other passerby for the police to arrive.

"During this time the little guy looked like he was getting stronger and kept trying to get up and move," she said. "He was hurting though, and had some blood on his snout as well. He was curious and kept sniffing at me."


The police arrived and made a decision to shoot the bear, although Chadwick contends officers had made up their minds prior to assessing the cub's condition.

"They told me they were dispatching the bear before they'd even looked at him," Chadwick told The Star. "She (the female officer) told me that as she was walking towards me. She hadn't even approached the bear at this point. ... The decision was made before they arrived. I was there for the whole thing."

During this time I'm bawling my eyes out and the female office kept saying it was for his own good. Now don't get me wrong I totally agree with euthanasia in the right circumstance but this poor thing hadn't even been given the chance to be rehabilitated and released! There are sanctuaries not far from Sudbury that do this kind of thing. I was told this is "standard procedure". However, I've since learned shooting should only happen that quickly if there is a threat to public safety - well the 40-45 mins I spent with this cub and had him smelling me and letting us comfort him clearly showed he was surely not going to eat us (I know mama bear could have been close but if she was she'd left well alone by this point with all the cars and people around). He looked well enough that he could have been helped (obviously I'm not a vet and don't know for certain but neither were those police officers). At the very least from what I've read he should have been tranquilized first.

Heartwarming photographs show a California black bear's miraculous recovery six months after she was found emaciated and hairless while rooting through a dumpster.

'Eve the bare bear' was just 25lbs when she was rescued by the Fund for Animals Wildlife Center in Ramona, California, on Christmas Eve last year.

This week the center shared photos of the bear who now weighs more than 100lbs and has almost fully recovered from the severed case of mange that had caused all of her hair to fall off.

Veterinarians had initially assumed Eve was a cub due because she was so small, weighing about a quarter of what a bear her actual age - estimated to be three or four years old - should weigh.

After months of treatment including biopsies, bloodwork, skin treatments and medication, the 'very resilient' bear is finally looking and feeling healthier.

While she is still suffering from a skin infection, center director Matthew Anderson reported that her fur and appetite have continued to grow each day.


'She started climbing trees and using the pool on hotter days and it's been a joy to see because that's the kind of normal bear behavior that we were looking for,' Anderson told ABC News.

With more time, Eve's care team hopes the critter will be able to be released back into the wild.
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Mark Hough had barely taken a sip of his Friday afternoon margarita when he heard twigs snapping and leaves rustling in his lush Altadena, California, backyard.

At first he brushed it off as the sounds of his neighbor pottering next door, but the noise grew louder.

“So I got up, looked over in the bushes and lo and behold there’s a bear climbing up over my fence,” Hough said Monday.

The sighting was the first of many encounters Hough would have with the bear that particularly hot Friday afternoon — over the course of a few hours the bear availed itself of Hough’s backyard, his hot tub, and the cocktail he left behind.

After first spotting the bear, Hough retreated inside, only to later find the furry intruder “bobbling away in the Jacuzzi enjoying himself.”

Hough recorded video of the bear lolling in the unheated hot tub with the jets on. The creature played with the chlorinator and tossed the thermometer in the air, Hough said.


“He was playing having a grand old time,” he added.

Bears have been frequently filmed romping around the community that straddles city and wilderness. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy Joana Warren said the department received six bear-sighting calls that Friday, but failed to find it.


The bear’s dip only last a few minutes before it emerged and lumbered around the yard. Then it “popped out of the bushes, walked right over to the margarita, knocked it over and lapped it,” Hough said. About an hour later, Hough was talking to a neighbor when some oak leaves fluttered to the ground. Hough looked up to see the bear slumbering in the tree.

“So he had his margarita, he had his Jacuzzi, and now he’s ready for an hour nap,” Hough said.

Hough said the bear ultimately hustled away down the street. After the encounter, Hough made himself two margaritas to make up for the one he lost.

“It was an interesting Friday to say the least,” Hough said.

"Being chained up, muzzled and forced to perform unnatural acts in front of large, rowdy crowds of people causes tremendous stress and can have an untold impact on these animals, both psychological and physical."

FOOTBALL FANS across the world are up in arms after a video showed a trained bear being made to hand the ball to the referee before he was forced to clap for Russian fans at the start of a match in a mindless display of animal cruelty. The Russian Football Federation (RFF) has been criticised for allowing the circus bear to perform tricks for fans ahead of third division game between Mashuk-KMV and Angusht in the southern city of Pyatigorsk.

In the video, the defenceless bear named Tim is restrained with a muzzle over his snout and mouth, while his handler forces him to stand on his hing legs and applaud the crowd. He is then made to clasp a football between his front paws, before handing it back to the referee and clapping to signal the start of the game.

Elisa Allen, Animal Welfare Charity Director blasted the incident as cruel and “utterly out of touch”. She said: “In addition to being inhumane, using a bear as a captive servant to deliver a football is downright dangerous.

“The bear is the symbol of Russia, so we hope the country's people will show some compassion and national pride and stop abusing them.

“Common decency should compel the league to pull this stunt.”


According to the BBC, FIFA has denied Tim would be used for the opening ceremony at this summer's World Cup, which is held in the country in June. But animal rights campaigners have branded the incident as a shocking example of animal cruelty and exploitation.


Brian da Cal, country director of Four Paws UK, said: "While some supposedly find this depressing scene 'entertaining' there is nothing at all light-hearted about this kind of abuse.

"Bears are wild animals and as such have very specific and complex needs.


Russian football is currently in the spotlight as further questions are raised about the validity and safety of the forthcoming tournament this summer. England fans are now questioning whether the nation should pull out of the Russian-organised World Cup.
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The riders taunted the bear to give chase in cruel stunt that has drawn criticism. Footage was filmed in the remote Kuril Islands, Russia, where baiting is common. Danila Dudarev, deputy forestry and hunting minister in the Kurils, called the baiting 'outrageous'

The creature had just woken from hibernation in the remote Kuril Islands, Russia. In the nerve-wracking footage the riders taunt it before it begins to give chase. The pursuit lasts 40 second before the animal rises up on its hind legs, towering over the snowmobile.

The animal bears its teeth and brandishes its claws.

But the unidentified driver is too quick and speeds away from the potentially fatal encounter.

The video has sparked fury on the Pacific rim of Russia where such bear chasing stunts turn the animals into future killers.

Danila Dudarev, deputy forestry and hunting minister in the Kurils, called the baiting 'outrageous'.

'This bear is not dangerous,' he argued.


'This is the outrageous, unconscious behaviour of adults who, in pursuit of beautiful footage, for the sake of entertainment, chase the wild beast.'

He said the bear could attack a helpless human in the future.


He told The Siberian Times: 'This animal might now throw out its aggression on someone who will not be able to leave on a snowmobile. In April and May, bears go out from their dens.

'They are not dangerous - if people do not tease or chase after them. The creature has woken and is looking for food. The beginning of spring is quite a stress for the animals and people who chase a bear like this are acting unethically.'

A tender moment captured on video between a 1,400-pound bear and his caretaker caught the internet's attention over the last week.

Jim Kowalczik, who owns the Orphaned Wildlife Center in Otisville, New York, is seen in the clip sweetly cuddling and petting Jimbo, the Kodiak bear.

'I’m sure you all do the same for your bears when they have had a hard day,' the caption reads.

Jimbo, at the age of 24, wasn't feeling his best earlier in February, the organization told ABC News. Kowalczik is seen hugging the bear around the head, gently rocking to and fro, before extending his gloved hand to rub Jimbo along his neck.

He keeps his hand there as he settles in next to the animal, before sitting down completely and removing his glove. Then Kowalczik puts his hand into Jimbo's mouth, gazing down at him while he licks his hand.

At this point, Jimbo is resting his head squarely on Kowalczik's though, with his front legs slightly curled, and somewhat underneath the man's left leg. Kowalczik gives the bear a pat on the snout, before Jimbo turns away from his buddy. The man pets Jimbo a few more times, before the bear bumps him in the leg, prompting him to say, 'Ow!' with a bit of a chuckle.


'What are you doing to me?' the caretaker is heard saying, with a laugh, before wrapping Jimbo's head again in an embrace.

The video comes to an end with more loving pats from Kowalczik, and Jimbo settles in again, resting his humongous head in the caretaker's lap. The group explained that Jimbo, who stands 10 feet tall, had recently completed a veterinary examination.


Jimbo had come down with an unknown illness that left him uncomfortable and agitated, the group told ABC. Kowalczik wanted to show Jimbo 'some extra love' and is seen petting him and talking to him softly. Jimbo has been at home at the Orphaned Wildlife Center since he was a cub.


The bear suffered injuries early in life, and was never able to resume living in the wild. Kowalczik is a retired corrections officer who now works in excavating. He owns the Orphaned Wildlife Center with his wife, Susan.

There is an amazing story of survival thanks to volunteers up and down the state of California.

Last month, some good Samaritans found a strange looking creature in a dumpster.

It turned out to be a female California black bear cub, but she was suffering from serious mange and had lost most of her fur, so she was almost white.

A concerned animal lover took the cub to the Bear League in Lake Tahoe where she got a week of emergency medical care that saved her life.

Then volunteers for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife drove the cub to a licensed bear facility called "The Fund for Animals Wildlife Center" in San Diego County.

She arrived on Christmas Eve and has been eating well and putting on weight. The cub is about a year old.


The team said there's a very good chance her fur will grow back and she'll be released back into the wild, but it will likely take many months.


If you would like to help support this cub and other wildlife in need, here are the links to The Fund for Animals Wildlife Center and the Bear League.
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Eventually the bears did leave, but not before investigating the family's nice swimming pool

A California woman says a family of bears have visited her house three times in the past two weeks - once even coming inside. Cell phone video shows homeowner Jenny Mark’s husband trying to reason with the bear cub that had squeezed itself through a gap in her sliding door in an attempt to feast on cat food. Its mother and sibling waited just outside.

“We always leave our slider cracked open about five inches to let my cats go in and out,” Mark told KTLA. “We had a wood piece made to go in the bottom of the slider so you can’t get the door open — they managed to both squeeze in.”

Mark estimates the bear cubs weighed around 200 pounds. She said her husband tried to shoo them out, but they eventually left on their own. The Marks' neighborhood is no strangers to bear sightings.

“We actually are two very big animal lovers, so we realize this is their backyard and it’s very exciting to see them. I think the whole neighborhood feels that way,” Mark said.

But even for Mark, having the bear inside her home was nerve-wracking.


“Being in the house a bit of a different story, but luckily they didn’t do any damage,” she said.
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