A bear in western Wisconsin was freed after spending more than a week with its head trapped in a jar, surviving by burning its fat stores and dunking its head underwater to drink through punctures in the jar.
The bear was first spotted near a resort property on Lake Namekagon in northwest Sawyer County, about an hour and a half south of Duluth, and was reported to the the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources several times.
Randy Johnson, a large carnivore specialist with the DNR, worked with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services to craft a plan to capture the bear and remove the jar.
But the bear proved somewhat elusive.
During the week, it wandered around for more than 50 miles, according to the DNR, moving across northwest Wisconsin, including the southern portion of Douglas County, which sits on the state’s border with Minnesota.
That constant movement made the animal difficult to trap. But in some ways, it was a good sign the bear was on the move, Johnson said.
“The fact that it was still moving so much and so efficiently was a good sign in that, it’s not lethargic, it’s still moving, it’s still on it’s feet,” he said. “But we didn’t know if it’s able to get water or anything like that. Obviously, it can’t eat much if anything. At some point, its days are numbered.”
On Sunday, thanks to a prompt report from a landowner, a USDA official was able to dart the bear and immobilize it at a property near Cable, Wis. The jar was finally able to be removed.
