If Life Seems Unbearable, You Need These Videos Of 3 Bears

ACROSS AMERICA — Life is hard right now. So we thought you might enjoy a couple of videos showing unbearably sweet encounters with black bears.

If bears can feel gratitude, a cub in Wisconsin surely did after finding itself in a predicament similar to the fabled Winnie the Pooh.

Tricia Hurt and her family were fishing on Marshmiller Lake near Bloomer on Saturday when they spotted the hapless baby bear trying to navigate the water while trying to get a plastic jar off its head.

The jar was stuck tightly on the bear’s head, the lip fitting closely around the poor little bruin’s neck like a collar, according to video Hurt posted of the encounter on her Facebook page.

“Oh, he’s getting scared,” Hurt can be heard saying on the video as family members Brian Hurt and Brady Hurt moved the fishing boat closer to the bear. Their first concern was to pull the jar off the poor beast’s head, but they also worried the bear might wind up in the boat with them.

It took a few attempts, but eventually, one of the men was able to free the bear from its entrapment.

“We saved our little bear!” Hurt can be heard saying. “Swim happy!”

Hurt and her family got all the feels on Facebook in nearly 1,800 comments. Many of those leaving messages called them "awesome," "amazing" and “angels on Earth” for their “kind” and “loving” act.

“So wonderful of you to help this poor bear who must've been distressed and no doubt exhausted,” one woman wrote. “Thank you!”

It’s not clear how the real-life Pooh got its head stuck in the jar, but experienced campers know bears are attracted to containers of food or that have had food in them. Bears are naturally intelligent animals, but this little dude got more than it bargained for when it sniffed out the jar.

No one knows exactly how long the little bear was ambling around with its head in a jar, but one person commenting on Facebook noted that employees of the park around Marshmiller Lake had been trying to catch it for several days.

Someone commented that it seemed “the bear was social distancing and adhering to CDC guidance on face masks.”

The video was a day-maker for some folks.

“With all of the horrific things going on in the world today, this was just wonderful,” someone wrote. “Thanks for making my day.”

Others simply said they were moved to tears by the Hurts’ act of humanity.

Another recent video showing baby bears just being themselves brought tears of laughter. It’s just straight-up cute.

New Lenox, Illinois, resident Meaghan Hejna and her family were vacationing Saturday in the Great Smoky Mountains near Gatlinburg, Tennessee, when they saw a couple of young bears play fighting on the deck of their log cabin.

It’s not unusual to see black bears in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which has a population of 1,600 bears — or about two per square mile.

Hejna saw a mother bear and her three cubs crossing the road in front of their cabin and started snapping pictures. Two of them broke away, scrambled up on the deck and put on a show that is nothing short of delightful. They stood on their hind legs, threw up their paws like prizefighters and pawed at each other. Watch the video.

Someone commented on Facebook that it appeared the bears were “fighting over who gets to stay for breakfast.”