Trail Camera Leads to Rescue of Black Bear Stuck in Plastic Lid for Two Years

Jun 23, 2025

Pesala Bandara

A black bear with a large plastic container stuck on its neck walks through a wooded area at night, captured by a trail camera. The image shows temperature and date information at the bottom. — A trail camera on private property in Hillman, Michigan, captured this photo of a black bear with a lid stuck on its neck in May 2025. The animal had been trapped in it for two years.

Wildlife officials have freed a young black bear after trail cameras spotted it with a plastic lid stuck around its neck for two years, ever since it was a cub.

In 2023, trail camera footage caught the attention of biologists after it captured a black bear cub in the northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan. The trail camera took photos of the cub with what appeared to be a hard plastic lid stuck around the animal’s neck.

According to a press release, wildlife officials at the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) had been searching for the black bear after trail camera footage showed it with a plastic lid stuck around its neck.

But the elusive animal proved hard to track. After being captured on camera one day, it seemed to vanish from the area the next.

Three people wearing gloves and outdoor clothing tend to a black bear lying on a tarp in the forest. One person holds a blue plastic tub around the bear’s head while the others assist in the process. — DNR staffers, from left, Angela Kujawa, Sherry Raifsnider and Miranda VanCleave work to remove a lid from an immobilized black bear. The bear had gotten its head stuck in one of two holes in the plastic lid.

Then, in late May, the bear was spotted again — this time by a resident’s trail camera in Montmorency County. The landowner alerted the DNR, and a team of biologists quickly set up a baited enclosure trap, successfully and safely capturing the bear.

Aerial view of a small black bear sitting on the ground in a forest clearing, surrounded by green foliage and scattered branches. — A DNR drone photo of the black bear after the lid was removed from its neck.

The now two-year-old black bear was anesthetized by DNR wildlife biologists on June 3, allowing them to safely remove the plastic lid from around its neck. The bear had significant scarring and an abscess, but was otherwise in good health. Once the anesthesia wore off, it was released back onto the property.

According to The Guardian, it’s unclear how the lid became stuck around the bear’s neck. Bear baiting is legal in Michigan, but regulations require the hole in a barrel lid to be large enough to prevent incidents like this.

The bear weighed 110 pounds, which is typical for a 2-year-old still growing. It’s also unknown how it managed to hibernate through two winters while wearing the plastic lid around its neck.

“It’s pretty incredible that the bear survived and was able to feed itself,” Cody Norton, a state bear specialist, tells The Guardian. “The neck was scarred and missing hair, but the bear was in much better condition than we expected it to be.”

“We were pleasantly surprised. It was still able to make a living like a pretty typical bear.”

Image credits: All photos via the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR)

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