Fishermen use nets to scoop lost baby bears out of lake (Video)

Late last month, two fishermen were fishing from a small boat in a lake when they saw them: two adorable bear cubs, struggling to stay afloat. The cubs apparently weren’t strong enough swimmers and had been unable to keep up with their mother, who made the crossing to dry land without even checking back to make sure the kiddos were okay. The mother bear overestimated her cubs’ ability to swim and led them into the frigid water. 

One of the men uploaded a clip of the dramatic rescue. It opens with one of the cubs clinging to the starboard side of the boat as if it were a life preserver, obviously exhausted as he bobs up and down with the slow-moving current. “Take a rest, little one, take a rest,” one of the men says soothingly. The fishermen quickly devised a plan to rescue the two bear cubs from their situation without getting too close to the wild animals — or their razor-sharp claws. Seeing them struggle, they had to act fast. So one of the men grabs a fishing net and scoops it under his bum to help guide the little guy aboard.

Two fishermen got the surprise of their lives when nature suddenly came calling

“We picked them up and dragged them to the island to which their mother had swim. It was dangerous, of course,” Ruslan admitted. “But they are living creatures. We couldn’t just look the other way.” The poor cubs were too weak to walk on their own. With the humans’ help, they were dropped off amongst some trees. The cubs were literally sinking and would have perished without the quick-thinking intervention of the two fishermen. Watch this amazing (and daring) rescue in the video.