REAL LIFE WINNIE - THE - POOH BEAR SHOT DEAD IN MINNESOTA

Bear with jar on head shot in busy town

By PAUL WALSH, Star Tribune

Last update: July 30, 2008 - 1:15 PM

The wanderings of a black bear for six days with a plastic food jar covering its head came to a deadly end in northern Minnesota, when authorities killed the hungry and thirsty animal in a town bustling with visitors.

The bear, a male about 2 years old, was shot by police in Frazee on Saturday night as the town was celebrating Turkey Days.

"With all the people around ... you're never sure what the outcome is going to be," Rob Naplin, a wildlife supervisor for the state Department of Natural Resources in Park Rapids, said today.

Naplin said efforts were made to trap the bear as it moved from spots in or near Itasca State Park. At one point, the DNR was equipped to tranquilize the animal, "but we never had the opportunity. ... because it stayed in forested areas" for nearly all of the time since it was first spotted July 21 until it met its fate in Frazee, he said.

Naplin said the bear "was in pretty tough condition after not being able to eat or drink for several days" with the 2.5-gallon plastic jar over its head. He said the jar is the type that holds candy or popcorn and can be bought at large discount stores.

Frazee Police Chief Mike Lorsung said that one of his officers, at the direction of a DNR conservation officer, took the bear down "with one shot, and it expired right after."

Lorsung said people were suggesting to police to either take the jar off the bear's head or shoot it with a tranquilizer gun. The chief said approaching a hungry bear would be too dangerous and his department did not have ready access to a tranquilizer gun.

In the meantime, he said, the bear was behind the Baer Building while Turkey Days festivities were going on in front.

As what could have been done to prevent a similar incident, Naplin said, "We're always encouraging the public to manage their refuse properly. Bears are opportunist feeders. They get access to human food, they don't know whether it's good for them or not."

Dennis Udovich, whose American Bear Association runs the Vince Shute Wildlife Sanctuary in Orr, Minn., sympathized with the dilemma that police in Frazee faced but also said he would have not hesitated to approach the bear, subdue it with a trap device on a pole and remove the jar.

He said he wants authorities to call his sanctuary for help in these situations. The sanctuary is about a three- to four-hour drive from the various bear sightings.

"The officer probably followed the proper protocol," said Udovich, association president, noting the proximity to the festivities in Frazee. "It's a sad thing to do [but was] probably the most humane thing to do. If it would've gotten away, what a [painful] death it would have had."

Naplin gave this account of the bear's movements in Hubbard and Becker counties:

On July 21, a woman called authorities to say she saw an animal -- possibly a bear or a dog -- run across a road south of Lake George with a jar on its head and heading west toward Itasca State Park.

On July 22, the bear was spotted at trash bins near the park's east entrance.

On July 23, a park observation tower staff member spotted the bear.

On July 24, a sighting was reported at a Boy Scout camp at Many Point Lake, west of Itasca State Park, then near Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge, where authorities there were alerted.

Saturday morning, the bear was seen 5 miles east of Detroit Lakes, then it came into Frazee that night. It was then, Naplin said, that police there were authorized to "dispatch the animal."