Trapped Bear Rescued from Garbage Pit by Police and Villagers in Sichuan

A wild Tibetan brown bear was rescued from a four-meter-deep garbage pit in Dege County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, after police and villagers lowered a makeshift log ladder into the hole, CGTN reported.

The adult bear had fallen into the pit on April 23 and could not climb out on its own. The walls were too steep and slippery, and repeated attempts to scramble up failed.

Because the pit sat next to village houses, officers first cleared nearby residents and set up a cordon. They then lashed sturdy logs together into a ladder and lowered it down before stepping back to watch from a distance.

The frightened bear knocked the first ladder over. The team reinforced it and tried again. This time the bear tested the rungs, hauled itself up inch by inch, vaulted over the rim and ran back into the forest.

No one made direct contact with the animal during the operation.