by Aliya Whiteley
The Scottish island of Benbecula is comprised of just over 30 hearty international mile of hills , timber , and beach , and seems like a great berth to escape modernistic life .
At least , that ’s what a hoary bear key out Hercules consider in the summer of 1980 .
Hercules had been lift in Perthshire , Scotland by wrestler Andy Robin and his married woman , Maggie , and had been trained by Andy to take part in wrestling matches . The bear appear on ITV’sWorld Of Sport , but his popularity went worldwide when he go for a swim and disappear while shoot a Kleenex telecasting commercial on Benbecula in 1980 .
Heracles grapple to last out out of lot for24 day , leading to panic amongst the locals who wondered whether a starving grizzly bear might burst into their homes , or eat their livestock . Well , no . Hercules did n’t do any impairment while living free on the island ( he had become used to the predilection of cooked meat and no longer eat it sensitive ) . And , after being found safe and reasoned and return to his home plate with the Robins , became a much - loved number around the cosmos .
HerculesmetMargaret Thatcher , andRonald Reaganwas said to be a fan . The Scottish Tourist Board crowned him Personality of the Year , and he made the cover ofTIMEmagazine . He even caddie for Bob Hope at Gleneagles once . If you want to see him in activity , you could watch the James Bond filmOctopussy(1983 ) ; he make an appearance alongside Roger Moore .
Hercules also inspired authorBella Pollen , who was last on the island at the time of bear ’s brazen escape . She and her sib spent the summertime searching for the bear , and years later , wrote a work of fiction base on the experience calledThe Summer of the Bear .
Hercules continued wrestling with Robin until 1997 , when a slipped saucer spell the end of the bear ’s career . Hepassed awaythree years afterwards .
By Ivanbalich - Own work , CC BY - SA 3.0,Wikimedia Commons
Hercules ' owners considered him to be part of their family , and he lived peacefully with them throughout his life . In 2013 a statue was put up in computer storage of Hercules on the island of North Uist , and his stiff were go to be bury there in 2015 . So even if he could n’t run detached on a Scottish island for too long , at least he ’s there now , for good .
