Heartwarming Rescue: Bear Cub Saved from Drowning in Russia’s Bashkiria

In Bashkortostan, a resident of the village of Kutushevo helped save a drowning bear cub.

The incident occurred while a family of bears was swimming across the Yumaguzino Reservoir. At some point, the cub became exhausted and clung to a floating tree trunk. A Russian man passing by in a boat noticed the struggling animal and decided to help. The man captured the moment on video.

Using his boat, the man pushed the tree with the bear cub toward the shore. The mother bear was watching from land.

Most importantly, the cub understood the man's intentions. The little one wasn't scared and didn't resist, as if sensing it was being helped.

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Bashkortostan officially the Republic of Bashkortostan, sometimes also called Bashkiria, is a republic of Russia between the Volga river and the Ural Mountains in Eastern Europe. The republic borders Perm Krai to the north, Sverdlovsk Oblast to the northeast, Chelyabinsk Oblast to the east, Orenburg Oblast to the south, Tatarstan to the west and Udmurtia to the northwest. It covers 143,600 square kilometres (55,400 square miles). It is the seventh-most populous federal subject in Russia and the most populous republic. Its capital and largest city is Ufa. As of 2025, it has a population of 4,046,094.