Low-tech/No-tech: Bear gets jar stuck on head, shot
- July 30th, 2008
- 14 Comments
DISCLAIMER: This story has nothing to do with gadgets or technology.
A wild bear in Minnesota got a jar stuck on his head, wandered fifty miles over six days through the forest, and then finally stumbled out in to the middle of Frazee – about 10 minutes from where my family’s cabin is located — during the city’s annual “Turkey Days” celebration. You’ve surely all heard of Turkey Days? Fearing the bear might get hit by a car or knock over a child, officials decided to shoot it.
The men had thought to tranquilize the bear a day earlier, but they couldn’t find a dart gun in time, saying “We attempted to locate a dart gun to tranquilize it, but it left the park. It was on the move.”
They also tried to capture the bear in a steel trap so that they could remove the jar and release the animal alive. A DNR official said that the bear was unable to eat or drink, although it could breathe. It was likely dehydrated and really, really hungry.
According to The St. Paul Pioneer Press, the DNR official “said the chances of a bear getting stuck in a jar are ‘very rare.’” I can’t tell if this is funny, sad, or both. I’m pretty sure it’s 90% sad, though. A bear with a jar on its head? Kinda funny. Shooting an animal dead because you couldn’t find a tranquilizer gun? Not really my kind of humor.
UPDATE: A few hours after this post was published here, a follow-up article was published to The St. Paul Pioneer Press in which the DNR officials explained why they didn’t tranquilize the animal. Apparently DNR officers aren’t issued tranquilizer guns “because they are rarely needed, they require special training and the powerful sedative drugs are highly regulated” – the drug in question that would have been used to tranquilize the bear, Ketamine, is often abused (it’s known as Special K) as a hallucinogen, so “only veterinarians and a few DNR biologists are licensed to keep it.”
Conservation officer Chris Vinton examined the bear after it had been shot and said "Its hips were sticking out, its gums were white from dehydration. I don’t know if its body could have handled being tranquilized."
Full follow-up here: http://www.twincities.com/ci_10045502
dead jim (Who am I?)
3 months ago
this is terrible. not funny at all.
Yannick Desjardins (Who am I?)
3 months ago
This angers me a lot to see how quick people are to kill animals.
Peter Ha (Who am I?)
3 months ago
How did they know it was six days?
gi joe (Who am I?)
3 months ago
You don’t think a bear with a jar stuck on its head would lie to reporters, do you Peter? (They had been trying to catch it for six days(?) according to the link. Crazy, huh?)
Peter Ha (Who am I?)
3 months ago
As if I have the time to click through, joe. Duh! :)
Jason (Who am I?)
3 months ago
Humans suck.
Paul G (Who am I?)
3 months ago
This is screwed up. It should be pretty easy to run up to a bear with a jar on its head and yank it off. Probably won’t put up much of a fight either - considering it hadn’t eaten in days.
thebonafortuna (Who am I?)
3 months ago
…or it would be pretty quick to attach and eat the first thing it saw. Because its hungry.
Revtim (Who am I?)
3 months ago
They couldn’t wait until they could scrounge up a dart? That seems ridiculous.
Devin Coldewey (Who am I?)
3 months ago
I know - and they were afraid it might knock over a child? Follow the goddamn bear for an hour or so until someone can drive a dart gun over! What the hell is wrong with people?
ParksBoardJackAsses (Who am I?)
3 months ago
What a bunch of jack asses! Grrr… couldn’t find a tranq? What the hell do they have in their trucks then!? Idiots!
Alex (Who am I?)
3 months ago
Jeez. What an example of lousy reporting.
“We attempted to locate a dart gun to tranquilize it, but it left the park. It was on the move.”
Leave out some important info perhaps? He does follow up the next day with the missing info.
http://www.twincities.com/ci_10045502?nclick_check=1
“Dave Garshelis, the DNR’s top bear expert, said he was ready to travel to western Minnesota to shoot the bear with a tranquilizer and remove the food jar, but the bear never stayed in one place long enough to warrant the action.”
“Only a subset of (DNR biologists) are licensed for the drugs, and I’m responsible for the bear drugs,” said Garshelis, who is based in Grand Rapids. “I’m a 2 1/2-hour drive away. If it had hung around in one spot, I would have come out, but it never did that.”
“The drug Garshelis uses on bears, ketamine, is highly regulated by the Food and Drug Administration because it’s a sought-after hallucinogen by drug abusers, who call it Special K. Only veterinarians and a few DNR biologists are licensed to keep it. “I keep it in two safes in my office,” Garshelis said. ”
Vinton, who examined the 2-year-old male bear after it was killed, said it was emaciated, dehydrated and near death. It likely hadn’t eaten or had water in a week. Vinton had to work to slip the jar back over its ears.
“Its hips were sticking out, its gums were white from dehydration,” he said. “I don’t know if its body could have handled being tranquilized.”
Doug Aamoth (Who am I?)
3 months ago
A follow-up article was written about three hours after I posted this one here. Sorry for the lousy reporting. This never would have happened if I’d finished that time machine that’s been sitting in my closet collecting dust. I guess I have my weekend project all lined up now! I’ve updated our post above. Thanks for the heads up.
Here’s the follow-up: http://www.twincities.com/ci_10045502
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flintstone (Who am I?)
3 months ago
I think the real concern here was that nobody trusts the DNR or the Frazee Police Dept with hallucinogetic drugs. These are the people who are supposed to PROTECT us? Apparently they are scared to death of a harmless, half-dead bear in need of help just to survive or just saw an opportunity to get out the big guns and start blasting away. (Small town cops don’t get that oppotunity very often, you know!) As for tranquilizer guns, they cost about $300-$350 ea. Maybe if the DNR and Frazee Police officers cut back on the donuts they could find the money in their budgets to have more than one in a state full of bears and wildlife. Maybe a background check of the officers is in order, too, since only a few can be trusted to handle Ketamine. Also in order would be air gun training so they don’t shoot each other with it. (any pre-teen boy with a Daisy Red Ryder could provide the training). Even Barney Fife showed more common sense, compassion, and bravery than this bunch, and HE only had ONE bullet !