Wild history: Hercules the bear

<p>There are plenty of unusual stories in the Outer Hebrides, but the tale of Hercules the bear has to be one of the wildest.</p><p>In August 1980, a 30 stone grizzly bear called Hercules arrived on Benbecula to film a television advert for Kleenex. He was a trained performer, raised by the Scottish wrestler Andy Robin and his wife Maggie, and had already appeared with Andy on the wrestling circuit.</p><p>Then, on 20 August, during filming, Hercules slipped away and disappeared.</p><p>For 24 days, one of the most famous bears in the world was on the loose in the Outer Hebrides. Hundreds of volunteers joined the search, along with soldiers and police, while news crews followed the story. When the organised search was called off after three days, Andy kept looking on his own.</p><p>On 13 September a crofter spotted him swimming. Hercules was tranquillised, netted and flown back to Andy by helicopter. Raised on cooked food, he had refused to touch the island's sheep and cattle, and he had lost around half his weight.</p><p>His Hebridean adventure made Hercules an international celebrity. The Kleenex "Big Softy" campaign followed, he appeared alongside Roger Moore in the 1983 James Bond film Octopussy, and he made the cover of Time magazine.</p><p>Today his story lives on at Langass Woodland on North Uist, near where he was found. Andy and Maggie unveiled a life-size statue of him there in 2013, and in 2015 Hercules was reburied beneath the trees, overlooking the islands he once roamed.</p>