Once the bear was hit with the tranquilizer dart, it panicked and ran towards the water. As it swam further and further out into the Gulf, it became drowsy. Adam knew that if something wasn’t done, the bear would drown. So he did what basically no one else would ever do and jumped in alone to save the animal.

The bear slowly began to lose its ability to move its legs, but that didn’t stop it from trying to climb on top of Adam to keep from drowning. Somehow, the biologist remained calm and grabbed the bear by the scruff of the neck with one hand and supported it from underneath with the other.

Everyone on shore held their breath as Adam dragged the nearly-400-pound beast twenty-five yards to land. By this point, the bear was having trouble keeping its head above water. But Adam never gave up.

After what seemed like an eternity, Adam made his way out of the water with the groggy bear. Despite the ordeal, he suffered only one scratch from the bear and a cut foot from the barnacles. 

Now that the bear was on land, the team was able to use a tractor bucket to transport it to  Osceola National Forest. I don’t think he’ll be going anywhere near large bodies of water for a long, long time.