For at least two years, a Michigan black bear traipsed around the forest, a blue barrel lid wrapped around its neck, as state wildlife experts tried to track it down.
The bear was first spotted on a trail camera as a cub back in 2023, but it remained elusive. It occasionally turned up on other trail cameras, but disappeared just as quickly.
A trail camera on private property in Hillman, Mich., captured this photo of a black bear with a lid stuck on its neck.
Handout / Private Resident via DNR
The uncomfortable saga came to an end this spring, according to a press release chronicling it, when a resident in Montmorency County spotted the 110-pound bruin on a trail camera roaming his wooded acreage and alerted the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
With the landowner’s permission, the DNR set up a cylindrical trap and lured the bear inside. Once captured, staffers were able to sedate the animal and free it from its plastic burden before it woke up and was released back to the woods.
In this image provided by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, DNS staffers, from left, Angela Kujawa, Sherry Raifsnider and Miranda VanCleave work to remove a lid from the neck of an immobilized black bear near Hillman, Mich., on June 3, 2025.
Michigan Department of Natural Resources via AP
In this image provided by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, wildlife biologist Angela Kujawa collects data from an immobilized black bear after a lid was removed from the animal’s neck near Hillman, Michigan, on June 3, 2025.
Michigan Department of Natural Resources via AP
“It’s pretty incredible that the bear survived and was able to feed itself,” state bear specialist Cody Norton told The Associated Press. “The neck was scarred and missing hair, but the bear was in much better condition than we expected it to be.”
In this image provided by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, the neck of a black bear is shown after a lid was removed after two years on June 3, 2025, near Hillman, Mich.
Michigan Department of Natural Resources via AP
According to the DNR, the blue lid matched those used to cover large 55-gallon barrels, which are popular among rural landowners and hunters to hold grain and feed used to attract bears.
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Though Michigan permits bear baiting, the law limits the use of bait containers to private land and requires that any openings be either under one inch or over 22 inches wide. In this case, while it’s not clear how or where the bear got the lid wrapped around its neck, the opening did not comply with local bear baiting laws.
A DNR drone photo of the black bear after the lid was removed from its neck.
Michigan Department of Natural Resources
“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,” Norton said in a statement.
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