MI Bear Finally Free After 2 Years With Lid Stuck Around Its Neck

MONTMORENCY COUNTY, MI — Michigan wildlife biologists in Montmorency County recently removed a plastic lid that had been stuck around a young black bear for two years.

Officials do not know exactly where or how the male bear got its head stuck in the 5-inch hole in the lid. They did say the blue plastic lid is similar to those that fit 55-gallon drums used by hunters to bait bears and by landowners to store materials that can attract bears, such as chicken feed.

"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."

Officials first learned about the bear in 2023 when biologists at the DNR’s Atlanta field office saw the bear with the lid stuck around its neck. At the time, officials said the bear was a cub.

Michigan Department of Natural Resources

Since then, officials said the bear had been occasionally spotted on trail cameras, but would then disappear after a day or so.

Then, in late May, a Hillman resident spotted the bear in trail camera photos taken on his wooded property and alerted the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

With the landowner’s permission, state biologists set up a baited enclosure trap and safely caught the bear on June 2. After anesthetizing the bear, officials cut the lid off its neck and collected body measurements and other data.

The bear weighed 110 pounds, which officials said is fairly standard for a 2-year-old bear that’s still growing. Officials said the bear did have significant scarring and an abscess on its neck, but otherwise seemed healthy.

Michigan Department of Natural Resources

Once the anesthesia wore off, officials said the bear was released back onto the property.

Baiting is a legal way for Michiganders to hunt bears, but they have to follow certain rules, including:

• People can only use bait containers on private land
• Holes in bait containers can only be 1 inch or less in diameter or 22 inches or greater in diameter

Norton encouraged property owners to recycle or crush containers such as empty cheeseball tubs and being “BearWise” about securing garbage. He pointed to cases in Florida, Wisconsin and Tennessee in which bears got their heads stuck in food containers.