Minnesota biologists rescue trapped black bear

By Zoe Sottile, CNN

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources came to the rescue of a bear-y unlucky bear after it became trapped in a ditch.

The bear had hunkered down in a culvert alongside the road near Wannaska, Minnesota, according to a Facebook post from the department.

But when the snow began to melt, the culvert started to flood, trapping the bear in deep snow and ice, according to the department.

Staff from the department quickly responded to the scene and helped remove the bear. The department’s bear biologist, Andrew Tri, “examined the bear and pronounced him healthy but groggy — obviously, because he’d been woken up from his winter sleep,” according to the Facebook post.

The department then relocated the bear to a state sanctuary to resume his hibernation. The sleepy carnivore was estimated to be 6 years old and between 375 and 400 pounds.

The department reminded residents that moving bears is a job best left to the professionals. If you’re worried about a bear in your neighborhood, you should contact local authorities — not try to move or feed the sleeping giant.

In this case, bystanders first tried to dig out the bear by themselves and offered him food, including Pop-Tarts, lettuce and Fancy Feast cat food. But, luckily for the well-intentioned diggers, “because bears don’t have the desire to eat in the winter, the bear didn’t bite.”

Minnesota is home to between 12,000 and 15,000 black bears, found mainly in the northern third of the state, according to the Department of Natural Resources. The predators hibernate for as long as six or seven months in the winter, during which time they do not eat and live off of their stored body fat.

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