Bear 'in a pickle'

bluemike807

bluemike807

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http://news.guelphmercury.com/News/article/664370



LAMBERT ISLAND, ONT. - A young bear on an island near Thunder Bay, Ont., has what appears to be a plastic jar stuck to its head, making it impossible for the animal to eat or drink.

Local resident Rob Peterson says people on Lambert Island – and the Ministry of Natural Resources – have been trying to catch the bear, but with no luck.

Peterson says he and his wife, Sharon Cole-Peterson, have tried setting a trap for the bear as well.

But he says the bear has been very elusive, although he was able to snap a picture of it on his deck Tuesday.

He says local residents feel sorry for the bear and their first reaction is to try and help, but then realize it would not be a good idea to approach the animal.

Peterson says the bear is in this predicament because someone didn’t do a proper job of recycling the jar in the first place.

“Animals get into trouble when we don’t do things the way we should do them,” he said.

The Canadian Press
 
Sad to see.

I like to shoot the odd bear, but I hate to see any animal suffer.
 
It's about time someone got to the bottom of this story. The locals have been trying to keep a lid on this for too long.

I know that someone with a can-do attitude will screw up the courage to jar the thing loose, or maybe at least trap the bear and get it to one of BC's preserves for care. For now though, you can see that bear's in a real jam.

:D

-M
 
I know bears can be cagey, but he's got a jar on his head for Pete's sake. They already can't see too well, his sniffer is out of commission, at least to a major degree, you'd think they'd have found a way to trap/tranquilize it by now, unless they WANT it to die of thirst/hunger.
 
Evolution at its finest. He who get aa plastic jar stuck on his head does not survive to produce more dumbass bears :) Seriously, though, they need to give this guy a tranq gun so he can get it when it comes in his yard. It probably won't be attracted to bair since it knows it can't eat...
 
Poor thing is emaciated. Either get the jar off, or put the animal down. It probably won't survive the winter anyway with such a late start putting on weight.
 
from what i see, this is a small bear, we can see because the barbq just beside give an idea of the bear size.....3 or 4 mens could easily tack down the bear with force, someone could pull that jar out of his head??
 
Jar removed
Jamie Smith, tbnewswatch.com
Ross Johnston stands with the pickle jar Thursday

A jar discovered with bear fur inside near Lambert Island Thursday morning matches one seen stuck on the head of a black bear in a photograph taken Tuesday.

Ministry of Natural Resources conservation officer Ross Johnston said the jar was found by a canoeist less than a kilometre away from the bear’s last known location.

Johnston said either the bear freed himself from the jar or met an unfortunate end when he jumped into the lake and the jar filled with water.

"He may be at the bottom of Lake Superior or he could be in a blueberry patch right now," Johnston said. "We’ll go with the happy ending but we may never know."

If the bear has survived, Johnston said the 60-pound mammal, which should be about 80 pounds given his age, still has plenty of time to fatten up on blue berries and raspberries before winter. The biggest problem for the bear is going without water for two weeks.

"The biggest thing is for him to get hydrated if he hasn’t been able to drink for the last two weeks That’s serious but I’m sure he can recover any weight that he’s lost," Johnston said.

The bear’s two-week ordeal from Hurkett to Lambert Island made received international attention. The bear’s story was featured in newspapers across the globe, and television and radio from CNN to CBC Radio’s As it Happens Wednesday.

MNR officials and the general public searched for the bear but couldn’t find him. Johnston said the plan was to get within 20 metres so they could tranquillize the bear and remove the jar. Because the bear could see shapes and movement through the opaque pickle jar, Johnston said it was tough to catch him.

The MNR also set up a trap but Johnston said they didn’t think it would catch him.

"It would have been difficult to sneak up on him to dart him," Johnston said. "And he never would’ve gone in a trap. We set one but we didn’t hold out much hope that he would go in it."

Johnston said he’s had to tranquillize deer to remove electrical boxes from their feet. The conservation officer also said he’s witnessed a deer with an arrow through its head and skunks stuck in jam jars. Until now he said he’s never spotted a bear with a jar stuck on its head.

Johnston said if people would’ve recycled the jar instead of throwing it in the dump, the event wouldn’t have happened in the first place.

"I think it could have been avoided," Johnston said. "It’s another really good reason to recycle…he got this on his head at the dump so if it’s in the dump it shouldn’t be there it should be recycled."

Although there was a claw mark in the jar, Johnston, who has seen bears tear apart plastic gas cans, said he’s surprised the bear couldn’t claw his way out of the flimsy pickle jar. He speculates the bear couldn’t find an edge for leverage.

Johnston added that he’s amazed the bear went for two weeks and travelled from Hurkett to Lambert Island with the jar on his head.

If the public sees a bear with a ring of fur missing from around his neck, then that's likely him, Johnston said.
 
Johnston said if people would’ve recycled the jar instead of throwing it in the dump, the event wouldn’t have happened in the first place.
Click to expand...

Darn people. Someone should have spent 5 gallons of water and soap cleaning that old jar of dried peanut butter and then driven it down to the recycle bin in his v8 3/4 ton so that another bunch of guys could shuffle it around till it could be sold for scrap to china for less then the cost of getting it to the port. Then we could of bought it back as part of a FENCE.
 
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