Tranquilized Bear Falls Out Of A Tree & Gets Absolutely Launched By A Trampoline

This video catches me off guard every time I see it.

As far as viral animal videos go, this video from Missoula, Montana in 2003 showing a black bear falling out of a tree and getting launched by a trampoline has to be one of the all-time greats. It goes viral every couple of years because it’s so incredible, so if you’ve never seen it, you’re in for a treat.

Black bears are a comical animal all around. They just love to get themselves into trouble. With ongoing urban sprawl and there love for anything that can be considered edible, we are just going to have more and more encounters with these dangerously smart animals.

In bear territory, most wildlife calls to wildlife services end up being bear complaints. Whether it’s a bear in the garbage, wandering around houses or even breaking into stuff, it happens a lot. We see it quite a bit here in Tennessee from visitors to the Smoky Mountains, where the growing urban center means the bear population often crosses paths with the human population. And naturally, people are scared of them, although most times the creatures are easily scared away.

The truth is, it is highly preventable to keep bears out of your yard or your car. Often times, if you properly store food, garbage and waste they will never bug you.

Sometimes though, they get themselves into predicaments and have to be dealt with.

This bear clearly did just that as he climbed a tree in someone’s yard and didn’t want to come down. The wildlife department ultimately had to be called to remove the bear, which is always a tricky situation since you want to move it without any amount of harm to the animal.

Well in this case, officials devised a plan like I’ve never seen before or since: They had a trampoline underneath the tree and decided to tranquilize the bear. Of course, the idea was that the bear would pass out, fall out of the tree and land safely on the  trampoline.

Sounds like something out of a cartoon, or the kind of plan a bunch of kids would dream up, but hey, if it works, it works.

The idea, though, didn’t go quite as well as the execution. The agent shoots the bear with the dart, knocking the bear out cold, and subsequently out of the tree. Really, he sticks the landing as good as he could for being completely unconscious…

The bear falls and lands on the trampoline and shoots back up into the air cartwheeling out of position and… BOOM… he hits the ground… HARD.

Ultimately the bear was fine, and was eventually relocated to a more suitable area, but you can imagine he woke up pretty confused.

Like I said… an all-time CLASSIC.

And here’s a follow-up video about how they went about releasing him, as well some reactions from folks in the neighborhood:

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