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Biologist Makes One Bear Of A Save

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 2, 2008

If Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission biologist Adam Warwick ever gets tired of his job, he can always join "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" or become the new Johnny Weissmuller, a former Olympic swimmer who rose to fame as Tarzan.

In an incredible display of dedication over the weekend, the 200-pound Warwick jumped into the Gulf of Mexico about 40 miles south of Tallahassee and saved a 375-pound black bear that was dazed and confused after being hit with a tranquilizer dart.

Afraid the bear would drown, Warwick kept one arm underneath the animal, grabbed the scruff of his neck and dragged him to shore, where he was put in the bucket of a tractor and later released in Osceola National Forest.

The feat amazed onlookers.

"And there's this ... bear running down the road, and it had a dart in it's side and he took off - cut right here in front of our place and started going out into the ocean swimming, so we were getting worried thinking he was going to get drowsy and go under cause he had a dart in him," Bill Jet told WCTV in Tallahassee.

"Next thing we know this guy over here is in the water with the bear."

Warwick, who said the bear wasn't able to keep his head above water, only got some small cuts and abrasions. That's minor hurt considering what the public's reaction would have been had the bear died during what should have been a fairly typical sedation to remove him from an Alligator Point residential area.

Still, Warwick is a hero. Saving a drowning dog is one thing, but a wild black bear with long, sharp claws? That takes guts.

Somewhere in the Osceola, Warwick probably has a friend for life.

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