“It’s pretty incredible that the bear survived and was able to feed itself,” state bear specialist Cody Norton said Wednesday. “The neck was scarred and missing hair, but the bear was in much better condition than we expected it to be.”
The bear first turned up on a trail camera as a cub in 2023 in the northern Lower Peninsula. After that, the Department of Natural Resources was on the lookout for the elusive animal with a hard plastic lid around the neck, Norton said.
The bear appeared again on a camera in late May, still wearing the barrel lid, and the DNR responded by setting a cylindrical trap and safely luring him inside. The bear was anesthetized, and the lid was cut off on June 3. He eventually woke up and rambled away.
the bear was in much better condition than we expected it to be
Alternate title: Thieves Anaesthetise Bear to Steal Prized Fashion Accessory
(Good job, humans, though. ;)
Cougar kills malnourished bear it once thought toxic due to abnormal blue growth
Fox & squirrel fashionistas made his life hell after his fall from high fashion & loss of style.
Bear baiting is legal in Michigan, but the hole on a barrel lid typically must be large enough to avoid what happened to this bear.
What the almighty fuck, Michigan?
Apparently in this context bear baiting means hunting a bear by leaving bait, not tying a bear up and betting on how many attack dogs it can kill before dying.
That had to be a massive mind fuck.
Also when it was suddenly gone.