A Michigan bear roamed the woods for two years with an awful lid on his neck. Not anymore.

Today in Michigan, wildlife experts were able to rescue a black bear that had been in serious trouble for two years. The bear had a large container lid stuck around its neck. After two years, the team of experts was able to trap it and successfully remove the lid from its neck.

Michigan bear expert Cady Norton said it was truly amazing that the bear was able to survive and feed itself. The bear’s neck was scarred and hairless, but it was in better condition than we had expected.

The bear was first spotted as a cub on camera traps in northern Michigan in 2023. The Department of Natural Resources then went after the escaped animal, wearing a plastic collar around its neck. It reappeared on camera traps in late May, and the Department of Natural Resources team captured it with a barrel trap. After the bear was stunned, the lid was quickly removed on June 3, and the bear returned to its normal form and walked away.

Angie Kojava, a wildlife biologist who was on the scene, said she was curious about how the bear was able to climb trees with such an unsightly object. Norton said it was unclear how the lid got stuck around the bear's neck, but that baiting is legal in Michigan and the holes in the lids are usually too big for that to happen.

The bear weighed 110 pounds (about 50 kilograms), which is normal for a 2-year-old bear. Norton was happy that the bear was still able to live a normal life.

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