In a small Russian village, a man had been getting ready to go hunting when he heard strange animal sounds coming from outside of his home. When he looked out the window, he spotted a huge bear outside in his yard. She had been making the most ungodly sounds as if wailing for something; the hunter didn’t understand – at least for the moment.

And as he took aim to shoot the huge predatory animal, he realized the bear would not have come to a human’s home unless she had been desperate for something, so the man put his gun down. It seemed at that moment the bear thought the man knew she needed help, and although the hunter was shaking in fear, he just couldn’t get the thought out of his head that the bear had showed up in his yard for a reason.

The bear then turned around and started heading towards the forest, and the man followed. She led him towards the lake. The man knew that female bears often led their cubs to the lake, and perhaps one of the cubs had been drowning. The situation, however was much worse. Her cub had become tangled up in a fishing net and while the current ran, the exhausted baby bear struggled to stay afloat.

The man rushed to the cub’s aid and cut the netting and helped her to his boat. The baby was exhausted; the hunter had no idea how long the cub had been struggling in the water. All the time while the hunter was helping the cub, the mother bear stood her distance, as though she was staying away as not to scare away the hunter helping her cub.

Only after the baby was safe on land did the mother bear approach her baby.

Had the hunter killed the bear outside of his home, the story would not have had a happy ending. Had the hunter not followed the mother bear, the story would not have had a happy ending.

However rare the circumstances, a mother’s love is one heck of an instinct, and thanks to this man, we have another example of man’s kindness and humanity.