Not long ago, a soul-stirring scene presented itself in a public park in Fushun city in Northeast China's Liaoning Province. A boy narrowly escaped death when his mother snatched him from the jaws of a bear. How did the mother, an ordinary woman from a rural area, manage to save her son from being torn to pieces by this giant animal?
The event happened on an afternoon in early winter when the mother and her six-year-old son went to visit a public park. They had brought some corn with them, first to feed the pigeons, and then the deer. While the mom was absorbed in feeding the deer, her son was moving away quietly in the direction of the bear cage, without her noticing. How could the mother have imagined the imminent danger that was closing in on her son?
The son was stretching out his hand through the railings to give toffee to the bear just as he had done with the deer, when all of a sudden the animal caught hold of the boy's small body with its huge paws and began trying to pull him into the cage with all its might.
The mom was still playing with the deer some distance away when she heard one of those awful screams that a mother knows and dreads. Feeling her adrenaline level at an all-time high, she bolted outside to find her son trapped against the steel bars of the railing, shrieking in pain and shock. Terrified at the sight of her son in peril of being dragged and ripped to death, the poor mother had only one thought on her mind then and there: if ever she could squeeze herself through the railings, she would willingly have sacrificed her own body to the beast in exchange for her son's safety. And thus began a breathtaking life-and-death fight between a human being and a ferocious bear, with the mother pulling at the boy desperately and the animal gripping the boy's hands and feet tightly from inside the cage. The sharp claws of the beast cut through the mother's hands and arms till they were badly scratched and bleeding. The only thing that filled her mind at that moment was to do all she could to pull her son out, balking at no sacrifice, even that of her life.
Seeing she was no match for the animal in this grapple, the mother extended her hand into the bear's mouth. "Eat my hand. Don't harm my kid," she wailed. "He is still young. I would be plagued by bitter regret to the end of my days if he should end up carrying any serious physical injuries for the rest of his life."
With one hand in the animal's jaw, she used every ounce of strength that remained with her to try haul the boy out with the other. And all the time the boy's body remained in the dread clutches of the animal. Time was ticking away, and her strength was waning. She realized she could not win the struggle for her son by herself now the bear had sunk its teeth into her hand. So she began to call for help at the top of her lungs.
Fortunately, the park workers rushed to the scene at this critical moment. And with clubs and other improvised tools as weapons, they eventually managed to break the bear's hold on the limbs of both mom and son. They were saved and are now in stable condition after receiving emergency treatment in hospital. When the mother returned to consciousness, the first few words she uttered were to ask the doctors around her to save her son's life as soon as possible. Not only those who saw the mother at the hospital, but many people who learned about the story from the local media were deeply moved by the great love shown by this mother's heroic deeds. This news account was aired on the CCTV news channel on December 10.
If we think of a mother's love mostly as care and concern expressed in a gentle and mild way, then what this mother did in a desperate situation shows what an exceedingly earthshaking power the strong and fierce protective instinct from such love can bring forth.
