DNR biologists remove lid stuck on bear’s neck for 2 years

In a case that highlights the importance of Michigan’s bear-baiting regulations, state wildlife biologists in Montmorency County recently removed a plastic lid from the neck of a young black bear that had carried the encumbrance around for two years.

It isn’t known exactly where or how the male bear got its head stuck in a 5-inch hole in the lid. The blue plastic lid is similar to those that fit 55-gallon drums used by hunters to bait bear and by landowners to store materials that can attract bears, such as chicken feed.

While baiting is a legal method for hunting bears in Michigan, bait containers can only be used on private land and may only have holes that are either 1 inch or less in diameter or 22 inches or greater in diameter. Landowners can do their part by recycling or crushing containers such as empty cheeseball tubs and being “BearWise” about securing garbage, said Cody Norton of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. He pointed to cases in Florida, Wisconsin and Tennessee in which bears got their heads stuck in food containers. “Container openings of a certain size can result in bears and other wildlife getting their heads or other body parts stuck in them, leading to injury or death,” said Norton, the DNR’s bear, furbearer and small game specialist. “It’s important to remember that the opening diameter is more important than the size of the container.”

Biologists at the DNR’s Atlanta field office became aware of the bear in 2023 after seeing trail camera photos of the then-cub with its head stuck in the lid. The bear would prove elusive over the next two years, occasionally appearing on other trail camera photos but then disappearing after a day or so. Then, in late May, a Hillman resident spotted the bear in trail camera photos taken on his wooded acreage and alerted the DNR. With the landowner’s permission, state biologists set up a baited enclosure trap and caught the animal safely on June 2. After anesthetizing the bear, they cut the lid off its neck and collected body measurements and other data.

The bear weighed 110 pounds, which is fairly standard for a 2-year-old bear that’s still growing. It had significant scarring and an abscess on its neck but otherwise seemed healthy. Once the anesthesia wore off, the bear was released back onto the property. Norton said the trapping, chemical immobilizing and data-collecting effort provided DNR staff with valuable training and information that can inform future research and bear-management strategies. Michigan is home to about 13,000 black bears – 1,700 of them in the northern Lower Peninsula. To learn more about living with black bears and minimizing bear encounters, visit BearWise.

Note to editors: Accompanying photos may be downloaded from this folder. All photos courtesy Michigan Department of Natural Resources, except for the trail camera photo. Corresponding caption information follows.

• Immobilized bear: DNR staffers, from left, Angela Kujawa, Sherry Raifsnider and Miranda VanCleave work to remove a lid from an immobilized black bear. The bear had gotten its head stuck in one of two holes in the plastic lid.
• Collecting data: DNR wildlife biologist Angela Kujawa collects data from an immobilized black bear.
• Trail camera: A trail camera on private property in Hillman captured this photo of a black bear with a lid stuck on its neck. (Image provided by private resident.)
• Scarring: The black bear had significant scarring and an abscess on its neck but was otherwise healthy.
• Free at last: A DNR drone photo of the black bear after the lid was removed from its neck.