This has made national news, so you may have already heard about it...

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission biologist, Adam Warwick, jumped into the Gulf waters near Alligator Point to rescue a 375 lb. male black bear that had been shot with a tranquilizer dart.

The bear was wandering around in a residential area of Alligator Point, just east of Apalachicola. The FWC was in the process of trapping the bear for relocation when the tranquilizer took longer than expected to work.

The bear, who had been seen before and had a penchant for swimming and the beach, hit the water before biologists could catch it.

Adam Warwick saw the bear struggling in the water as the tranquilizer began to take effect and knew the bear wouldn't be able to swim to the opposite shore.

In a spur of the moment decision, Adam jumped into the water and swam 25 yards to the bear where he held the bear's head out of the water as he drug him to shore.

Bystanders and a good samaritan helped load the bear into a front end loader, then into a truck for transport.

The black bear was released uninjured into the Osceola National Forest near Lake City.

Now that's cool!

Here's the link to the press release:
FWC News - Daring rescue; FWC biologist saves drowning bear

Photo credit: Becky Bickerstaff/www.myfwc.com
(that last photo is hi-res... check it out!)

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Thats crazy. Awesome pics!