*A Heartwarming Story from Indian Army*

*A Heartwarming Story from Indian Army* One Grizzly 🐻 Bear (Himalayan Brown Bear) family used to visit us at xxxx post. Initially, only during nights. We started keeping food for the family. Their confidence in us developed over a period, and they even started coming during day. There was also a bear cub about a yr old. It used to come with his mother, but after about 6 months, it was either deserted by the mother or got lost. Then it started roaming alone, but it had problems, since the dogs in the post wouldn't let it come close. When we saw this, we started tying the dogs. The confidence grew and it started to come close. We named him Bahadur after the Company's name- Bahadur Company. For a few days, we couldn't see Bahadur. One day, one of my posts, which used get cut off due to 60 feet of snow, reported that Bahadur is roaming around with his head stuck in a tin box. This post was about 800 metres from my Company Headquarter. I took 6 boys with me and went to rescue the bear myself. It's not that I wasn't concerned about boys safety; but I still decided to do the rescue. When we reached the place, the bear was roaming with the tin box around its head, over a cornice probably without food for last 3 days. It was making circles on the cornice. (Cornice - An overhanging mass of hardened snow at the edge of a mountain precipice.) Basicall, cornice is a false extension of ground made by hard snow over a period of time, and it can't take too much weight. It can break off and can lead to an Avalanche. So it was very difficult to go closer to the bear to rescue it. I found the lightest boy from my group and briefed him to go close to the bear and tie the rope around his neck. We also tied a rope to the waist also to pull him in case the cornice breaks down. This boy was nervous to get close to the bear. After about over 3 mins, I decided to rescue the bear on my own. The bear was approached by me on my knees and I pulled him out of the cornice as quickly as possible to avoid breaking off the cornice. After bringing the bear to safety, we tied it with ropes to take it to our xxxx post, where we could release him after removing the tin box. It took almost a kind of surgery to cut the tin box without damaging the ears and neck of the bear. We gave him food and released him after taking all safety precautions. When we released him, he didn't go away for a good 3 hours. But after that it became part of my Company. Whenever we shouted his name -Bahadur, it always appeared from nowhere. It still comes to the post for food. Although the Story is very Heartwarming, please do also take a moment to appreciate the very difficult conditions and the environment the Indian Army is guarding our Borders. Furthermore, do also see and acknowledge the accommodation they are staying with bare minimum amenities. It takes a special kind of man to do this. A big Salute 🫡 to the Soldiers of the Indian Army