A mother sloth bear and her two cubs were rescued after they accidentally fell into an open well near a village in eastern India.

The villagers, near Nabarangpur in Odisha state saw the bears inside the 20-feet-well and alerted the forest officials, who reached the spot.

They first rescued the mother and a cub with help of ropes and put them in a cage.

They then pulled out the other cub from the well.

An eyewitness Pradeep Das said: The animals were scared and agitated. The mother resisted ferociously as she did want to be separated from her cubs.”

“We have successfully rescued the three bears from the well. They will be released into forest after preliminary treatment,” said Jagannath Bisoi, a forest official.