Talk about getting stuck between a rock and a hard place.
This young bear was actually in a much more dangerous situation, being stuck between an electric pole and some live wires. One wrong move and the bruin could have had the life zapped out of it. That’s why officials from the Arizona Department of Game and Fish acted fast when they found out the wild animal was in trouble.
A couple of years ago, this video out of Arizona went viral because… well, you don’t see bears climbing power poles all that often. You definitely don’t see the large beasts get stuck and need assistance, so this footage caught the eye of many when it first started making its round. It’s so absurd, it deserved another look all of this time later.
In the clip, a bruin in distress can be seen looking somewhat ashamed as employees of the Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Co-op (in collaboration with the Arizona Department of Game and Fish) used their boom truck to help out the wild animal. You can hear the man filming from the raised portion of the truck’s extension attempting to comfort the younger bear:
“Alright little bear, time to get off this pole. Alright little dude, let me help you.”
Before the rescue mission began, the officials disconnected the power source to this pole to ensure that the bear and the people helping out wouldn’t be in danger. Or I guess that much danger… there aren’t any promises when you are working in close quarters with an apex predator.
They weren’t sure why this bear ended up at the top of the electric pole, but they presumed it had become spooked, or it was possibly chased up it. Something officials were sure of, however, was that they were going to get this bruin back down on the ground safe and sound.
Workers were eventually able to get the bear unstuck, and then encouraged it to climb back down on its own. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen videos of officials trying to get bears out of high places, but it doesn’t always work out smoothly for the wild animal (just watch this bear get launched by a trampoline).
This smaller bear avoided a catastrophe and was able to climb back down the pole. Authorities that were there assisting say that when it reached the bottom, it wasted no time trotting off, hopefully learning a lesson to not put itself in positions that it can’t get out of on its own. It was certainly a close call for the bear when the power was still turned on to the pole it got stuck in, but fortunately, the bruin made it out unscathed.
Check it out:
