Wisconsin Bear’s 50-Mile Jar Trek Ends in USDA Tranquilizer Drama

Wisconsin bear, infamous for wearing a plastic jar helmet, baffled wildlife officials as she wandered 50 miles across Bayfield, Douglas, and Sawyer Counties. Trending queries like “how long can a bear survive trapped” and “what happens when a bear is tranquilized” come alive as USDA teams set live traps, only to be outpaced daily. “Staff from USDA Wildlife Services set several live traps for the bear…but these efforts were ultimately unsuccessful due to the distance the bear was traveling each day,” officials reported.
After eluding capture with her accidental plastic helmet, the 2-year-old sow was finally subdued by a tranquilizer dart on private property, her freedom immortalized in a news release. New trending questions—“What do you do if you see a bear with its head stuck?” and “Can tranquilizers harm wild animals?”—are answered with the image of a bear outsmarting high-tech traps, then snoozing while her jar headgear is surgically removed. “Once the bear was sedated, USDA Wildlife Services staff were able to cut off the jug and examine the bear for injuries,” the officials confirmed.
The bear, discovered uninjured after her 11-day, 50-mile odyssey, was relocated to a wooded buffet—where no plastic jars haunt the underbrush, only bewildered squirrels and USDA legends.