This is one of those stories that when you read it you just go “Whaaa???”

Last Tuesday, a 375-pound black bear found himself in a world of trouble when it took a plunge into the Gulf of Mexico after scavenging through garbage cans in the small beach front community of Alligator Point in the Florida Panhandle. Wildlife officials had been alerted that the bear was hiding under a home and tried to tranquilize it with a dart. Unfortunately, the tranquilizer worked slower than expected, leaving the bear just enough time to make a run for it and end up in deep water.

So what do you do when you see a huge bear slowly drowning in front of you? If you’re biologist Adam Warwick (a.k.a. the bravest man on the planet), you jump in and play lifeguard.

According to Warwick, the original idea was to prevent the bear from swimming further out to deeper waters but after a few minutes it lost motor control and started sinking. On the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission website, he explains what happened next:

“At that point I knew I had to keep the bear from drowning,” he said. “After a few seconds the bear popped his head up out of the water and thrashed around a bit, but could obviously no longer keep his head above water.”

Warwick kept one arm underneath the bear and the other gripping the scruff of its neck to keep the bear’s head above water. Warwick said he walked barefoot over concrete blocks crusted with barnacles in the 4-foot-deep water as he tried to guide and use the water to help float the bear back to shore.

Putting your own life on the line to save an animal big enough to eat you for a morning snack from drowning. Now that’s what I consider to be true heroism.

You can read the whole incredible story and reevaluate the useage of the term “hero” here.