‘Guarding India means protecting her nature too,' read an X post that shared the viral video of Indian Army soldiers rescuing a young Himalayan Brown Bear from a perilous situation. The animal had its head stuck in a canister and was reportedly starving for about three days. Blinded by the metal scrap enveloping its head fully when the Indian Army intervened and set it free. The viral video captured the soldiers using ropes to gently bring the bear cub towards them before trying to pull the metal can out with their hands.
Proud of our Army 💪
— MG 🇮🇳 (@mgnayak5) November 1, 2025
*A Heartwarming Story From Indian Army*
One Grizzly Bear (Himalayan Brown Bear) family used to visit us at xxxx post in Siachen. Initially, only during nights.
We started keeping food for the family.
Their confidence in us developed over a period, and… pic.twitter.com/yRgofOnrnR
However, the attempts were hurting the animal and the men used tools to carefully cut open the stuck object and liberate the bear cub, the viral videos showed. The clips also captured the soldiers feeding the young beast loaves of bread. The bear took its sweet time to enjoy the treat, and it felt unthreatened by the jawans who saved its life.
Is the viral clip AI-generated?
The video has been going viral on the internet since the start of the month. Those sharing the video claimed the Grizzly cub was rescued by the Indian Army at Siachen. Some, meanwhile, questioned the authenticity of the video and declared it AI-generated.
The video is real and involves Indian Army soldiers on the line of duty. However, it is at least a year old as the same video has been circulated online at least since November 2024. Given below is one such early upload of the same video.
Indian media had covered the incident, hailing the empathetic soldiers who decided to help the bear cub that was called 'Bahadur.' One such report from December 2024 can be read here.
However, no credible report could confirm it happened in Siachen.
Also, the animal involved in the incident was a Himalayan Brown Bear and not a Grizzly. While Grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis) are a subspecies of brown bears, they are endemic to North America and not found in Asia. The Himalayan Brown Bears, Japan's Ussuri brown bears, and the Russian brown bears are all close relatives of the Grizzlies, which are dreaded wild animals in Canada and the US.
