Could this be Robin Hood reincarnated as a bear?!

Woburn Safari Park, Bedfordshire, was momentarily transformed into medieval Sherwood Forest when a bear tore a hub cap from one car - in order to give it to a driver whose own hub cap had been stolen.

The giant black bear had initially sparked fear among zoo visitors driving past him when he began tearing at one car's hubcaps.

They didn't realise his efforts, although misguided, were actually aimed at helping others.

Gift in mouth, the animal lumbered over to a woman in a car behind, whose hubcaps had been stolen weeks earlier (at the hands of nasty humans, we presume).

'It put the hubcap down and then banged on the window, as if it was trying to get my attention,' said motorist Azra Noonari.

'It was almost like it wanted to give me the wheel cap.'

Not since the days of fellow forest-dweller Robin Hood have we seen such heartfelt banditry!

Bouncing Bears!!

Take one tree, one bear, a tranquilizer dart and a trampoline and what do you have? A Bouncing Bear of course!

Scaredy Cat

From the National Geographic:

Perhaps not since the Cowardly Lion has an animal's appearance been so at odds with its attitude. On June 4 a black bear wandered into a West Milford, New Jersey, back yard, was confronted by a 15-pound (7-kilogram) tabby cat … and fled up a neighbor's tree. Hissing at the base of the tree, Jack the clawless cat kept the bear at bay for about 15 minutes, then ran him up another tree after an attempted escape.....

Full-grown black bears weigh between 200 and 600 pounds (90 and 270 kilograms) and measure as much as 6 feet (1.8 meters) long. Their diets can include fruits, honey, insects, acorns and animals as big as moose calves—a fact apparently lost on Jack.

Dental treatment, artificial limbs and a hernia operation... all given to animals

A series of reports are emerging on the latest medical care being recieved by animals. While all attempts to undertake medical care on animals is of course welcome, perhaps most incredible of all is the hernia operation recently performed on Carla the angelfish.

Vets at the London Aquarium used anaesthetic, a scalpel, a needle and forceps to perform the operation, who is a 10-year veteran of the popular tourist attraction. Happily, Carla has now made a full recovery and is once again pleasing visitors in the Caribbean tropical fish display tank.

Another case of animal medicine to come to life is that of Riley the horse, who was lucky enough to receive a prosthetic leg in a pioneering operation that is being credited with saving her life.

In addition to general surgery, there have been significant advances in recent years in the field of animal dentistry. Henry the puffer fish was given an emergency tooth extraction after coming off worse in a fight with a stingray half his size. The stingray, named Clyde, has been relocated to another aquarium, while Henry is still contentedly passing out his days at the Sea Life Adventure centre in Southend, Essex.

Meanwhile, in India, a British dentist has been giving extensive dental treatment to tigers and bears living in a rescue centre run by International Animal Rescue.

It's true! Coffee is a bear necessity!

It's not only people that need their morning pick-me-up, Starbucks the grizzly bear was simply bowled over when he found this abandoned coffee mug.

'Although the cup was empty, the bear still went loopy over the smell,' said Doug Read