In fact, he thought it was a human at first!

That’s why he and his friend, who were out fishing on Lake Vygozero in northwestern Russia, sped directly toward the floating blob.

If it was a human, that person would be in dire need of assistance because the water temperature was frigid.

In fact, Lake Vygozero is infamous for having incredibly cold water; it can go down to 4 degrees below zero!

So, Ruslan and his fishing buddy headed toward the brown spot on the water, preparing for a rescue.

But when they got closer, they realized it wasn’t a human … whatever it was had fur.

And it was gigantic!

Then, when they brought up the binoculars, they saw that it was actually THREE brown blobs:

One was a mother brown bear and the other two were her struggling cubs!

That’s when the mama bear did something the fishermen couldn’t believe:

Instead of sticking with her cubs, she turned around and headed back to shore, leaving the two babies behind.

The cubs were having trouble staying afloat and they couldn’t keep up with their mother, who was obviously a stronger swimmer.

As they watched the mother swim away in consternation, the fishermen knew they had to help.

And even though the bears in trouble were just babies, they knew it would indeed be a little risky. But as Ruslan said:

“It was dangerous of course. But they are living creatures. We couldn’t just look the other way.”

They steered toward the drowning cubs and before they knew it, the first one tried climbing into the boat!

But he was too weak to make it, so the fishermen grabbed a net and scooped up the terrified animal.

The second cub was even more exhausted; it couldn’t even attempt to lift itself into the boat, so Ruslan and his friend did all the work for him.

Once they’d safely snagged both cubs, the fishermen headed directly to a nearby island…

The island the mama bear was waiting on!

Under the mother’s watchful eye, Ruslan and his friend unloaded their precious cargo on the beach, and then motored off.

After all, it’s not a good idea to be near cubs when when the mother bear is nearby!

And although it would forever remain a mystery as to why the mother bear had left the cubs in the lake, at least those two babies were safe.

All because two determined fishermen weren’t about to let them drown … no matter how big their claws were!

Source: Honest to Paws

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