Viral video: Bear cubs rescued by pickup truck and ladder
SEATTLE – It’s the viral video we can't bear not to share on Facebook and Twitter this week.
The video shows a pickup truck backing up to a dumpster as a brown bear wanders nearby. A woman in the bed of the truck quickly drops a ladder into the dumpster and the truck speeds out of the frame.
That’s when you start to see the three little bear cubs clearly trapped inside the dumpster poke their noses out and begin to climb up the ladder.
The little guys amble and tumble and finally make it out of the dumpster to be reunited with mama bear.
The video was posted on Facebook on Monday and has since been seen and shared thousands of times.
ABC News tracked down the woman seen in the video rescuing the bears. Her name is Shirley Schenk and she says this is the third time she and her husband have rescued the trapped cubs in this manner near their home in Ruidoso New Mexico.
“I was not scared,” Schenk told ABC News. “I had my husband driving and I knew we’d drop it and go. … I would have never done that on foot.”
Sure beats all the bad news I've been seeing.
Finally, someone as crazy as me!
That was awesome!
Wow, he has great backing skills! Â He should teach lessons to all the yahoos we see double parked everywhere we go! Â Glad they taped this happening!
This video bears repeating.
That is not a brown bear. It is a black bear. Brown bears have a clear hump on their shoulders and larger heads, and are much bigger than black bears. Brown bears are also known as Grizzly bears and Kodiak bears. The Kodiak bears are just grizzly bears that grow particularly huge due to the bounty of salmon they get to feast on.
Â
Brown bears aren't always brown, black bears aren't always black. Black bears seldom perform predatory attacks on humans, but there are about 30 documented cases in the last hundred years. Grizzly bears will stalk a human as prey, but it is very rare.
Â
As the old joke goes - how can you tell the difference between a black bear and a brown bear?
Â
Climb a tree.
Â
A black bear will climb up and eat you. A brown bear will knock the tree over and then eat you.
I miss the edit feature. A bear with three surviving cubs is pretty rare, and although it's at a distance they all look pretty darn healthy.
 @Howard Beale I am NOT a fan of the new commenting system. Not only did they take the edit feature away, we also lost the ability to get clear feedback on what people think of a particular comment.  Seeing a total "likes" isn't the same as seeing a +10 on a given comment.
How did they get into the dumpster without a ladder?
 @notme My guess is that the cubs climbed the trees behind the dumpster and then climbed on and in. Â
I can see it now... Mamma bear knocking on Shirley's door... (in a Brooklyn accent) Â "Shirl... can I borrow the ladder.... the terrible trio fell in the trash AGAIN!"
Always nice to see a bright spot in the news. High fives to the Schenks.
Love it, LOVE IT!! Â You good people, you make me happy today.
Awesome. The video you couldn't bear not to share is right! :)
What a wonderful couple! It's nice to see people being kind to animals, and it's especially refreshing to see something positive on the front page.
Awesome work!
great job
Â
Good job!