Bear freed after head gets stuck in milk can

In a real-life scene that could have come straight out of a Winnie the Pooh book, Vermont wildlife officials freed a young bear's head from a milk can after it apparently got stuck trying to reach food.

State biologist Forrest Hammond, along with some help from firefighters and police, spent about 45 minutes Sunday afternoon getting the old fashioned milk jug off the 120-pound bear's head, according to Vermont Fish and Wildlife spokesman John Hall.

The bear was found meandering through the woods along Route 106 in Reading, bumping into boulders and trees with the milk jug stuck on its head.



Hammond had to tranquilize the bear and first tried to soap up his head and pull the milk jug off, but that didn’t work and he eventually had to use metal shears to get it loose. "He just did an excellent job of getting out there," Hall said. "It's important, too, that nobody got hurt," he said, adding that the bear was released into the wild.

Hall said the bear was a young male. "He was probably out on his own this spring, and desperate for food, and made a mistake," Hall said. The milk jug had some bird seed in the bottom and wildlife officials believe that's what the bear was after.

Hall said the bear probably took the can from someone's residence and reminded homeowners to take bird feeders out of their yards in the spring to avoid attracting bears - and trouble of the kind that this silly little bear got into.

With photo gallery.