Has the animal world gotten caught up in the ice bucket challenge? That's what you might think when a bear was seen wandering around with a bucket on it's head. INSIDE EDITION explains.
One bear caught on video looked like he was taking the Ice Bucket Challenge, but he had a bucket stuck on his head!
This was the sorry state of a young black bear in Western Pennsylvania who was wandering around for two months with a bucket on his head.
Dean Hornberger and his fiancée Samantha Eigenbrod heard about the bear's dilemma. There was even a Facebook page called “Save the Bucket Bear.”
INSIDE EDITION asked the couple, "What was your first reaction when you saw this bear with a bucket on his head?"
Samantha said, "It's scary and crazy all at once!"
Dean said, "You feel really sad for it."
Hear More from Dean and Samantha
They decided to track down that bear and get the bucket off his head. Dean chased the bear and Samantha filmed the ordeal.
Dean said, "I had to reach in the inside bucket where it's head and teeth are and hope it wouldn't reach my fingers and bite me! I grabbed a hold of him instantly and played tug of war. I pulled with all of my might and the bear pulled against me. I kind of realized at that point that I wasn't sure how I was going to pull it off."
He discovered there was a hole in the bottom of the bucket, which had allowed the bear to eat during his long ordeal and stay alive all those weeks.
At last, they nabbed the bear with the help of Good Samaritans who came along!
Dean said, "This big guy tackles the bear. He held him down and gave me enough time to run to my truck and grab the hacksaw. We took turns hacksawing. This went on over the course of half an hour. The bear was not happy, either, he was growling!"
Suddenly, the bucket came off and the bear was free.
One of the rescuers suffered a few scratches, but the main thing was the bucket was off the bear.
Megan Alexander asked, "Now, I guess you can take bear rescue off your bucket list!"
They replied, "Yes!"
