Police in the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Northwest China's Qinghai Province help to pull out a plastic bucket from a brown bear's head. Photo: Screenshot of The Beijing News

A brown bear would have surely died if local police in Northwest China hadn't managed to pull a large yellow plastic barrel off its head.

A video posted Monday on The Beijing News shows the poor animal struggling to blindly climb a rock face near a riverbank in the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province with its head firmly stuck in the barrel. It had obviously found remnants of something tasty in the discarded barrel.

Local construction workers discovered the bear and its plight, and called the police who took four hours to get the barrel off the wild animal's head. They managed to tie a cloth rope around each of the bear's legs and got it spread-eagle on its back, the video shows. Another officer somehow managed to pry the barrel off the bear's head, but the rescue team then seemed confused how to untie the animal, which was in distress. Presumably, the bear got itself untied and then fled. 

The video of the bear's rescue earned the local police a lot of kudos for their efforts and bravery.

The Beijing News