Animals are smarter than we often give them credit for, and in the case of this hungry grizzly bear, persistence definitely pays off.

As part of an experiment to minimize contact between humans and bears, a group of conservationists from the Vital Ground Foundation rigged up a road-killed deer to a battery in order to give it an electric charge. The idea was to see if hunters' game kills could be electrified in a similar manner in order to serve as a deterrent for bears. When a bear would attempt to bite into and run away with the hunter's deer, a shock would be delivered to the bear, causing the bear to drop the deer and run away. This, in theory, would result in fewer potentially dangerous human and bear confrontations.

But nobody expected any of the bears to react like this. Not once, not twice but more than three times the bear attempts to make away with the deer, even after being shocked. This bear, however, doesn't give up so easily. Watch to see what happens below.

It tries all manner of strategies and comes back again and again, eventually standing on its back legs and knocking the deer around. Finally the bear grabs the deer with both paws, pulls and falls backwards, ripping the entire rig down before snapping the rope and running away with a well-deserved meal. Let this be a lesson: there is no substitute for being persistent and old-fashioned trial and error, even if you're a bear. 

Photo: Mousse via Wikimedia Commons