Bear rescued from a metal cream can with Jaws of Life has happy ending. 
9/11/18 
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ROSEAU, Minn.—Bears are nosy critters by nature, and a 150-pound black bear last week found out the hard way what happens when it sticks its nose into a 10-gallon metal cream can.
Fortunately, thanks to the MInnesota Department of Natural Resources and Roseau Fire Department and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, this story has a happy ending.
It all started Friday afternoon, Sept. 7, when DNR conservation officer Eric Benjamin responded to a call of a bear with its head stuck in an old 10-gallon metal cream can at a residence about 4 miles northwest of Roseau.
Benjamin, who was about an hour away, said the bear's head still was firmly wedged in the can when he got there.
"That bear's head was way too big to get inside that thing," Benjamin said Tuesday in a phone interview. "I don't even know how he did it.
"I'm not sure how long it had been on the bear's head before the farmer noticed it," Benjamin said. "He called me—he had already tried to get it off, because the can was wedged between a tree and a shed —and he had tried to pull on the can to see if it would come loose off the bear's head, and he was getting nowhere."
The bear was still in the same place the homeowner had encountered it when Benjamin arrived.
"The bear was not, I would say, at 100 percent by the time I got out there, but it still had more than enough energy to take swipes and push and pull," Benjamin said. "It was weird. I've come across bears before but not one that was stuck in a can."
Benjamin and the homeowner drilled holes in the can so the bear could breathe while they worked to free him. But despite their best efforts, which included using cooking oil in hopes of sliding the can off the bear's head, they had made little progress after two hours of struggling.
"That didn't work, and then the bear was panting pretty hard, starting to hyperventilate so we drilled three holes in the can so it could get some oxygen while we tried to figure out what we were going to do next," Benjamin said.
They got the bear unwedged from between the tree and the shed and tied a ratchet strap from the can to Benjamin's truck so the bear couldn't run off with the can on its head.
Benjamin, the farmer and another man then tried to wrap the bear in a blanket to get some control and work at getting the can off.
"It didn't matter what we did, it was not coming off," Benjamin said.
Running out of options, Benjamin then called the Roseau Fire Department to see if they could come out and help free the bear.
"Probably 15 minutes later, the truck showed up and three guys in full gear jumped out of the truck," Benjamin said.
They pulled an old boat tarp over the bear and tried to wrap it to get better control.
That was easier said than done, even with a tired bear, and by all counts, it was quite a wrestling match.
"That bear still had enough fight in it that even with two firefighters, myself and the farmer holding it to the ground, it was still able to get up and stand up," Benjamin said.
They wrapped it up again, and one of the firefighters was able to get the Jaws of Life between the can and the bear's head.
"I want to say he made three cuts with the jaws of life and then used the spreaders to spread the can open," Benjamin said. "At that point, we were able to pull the can off the bear's head."
Time tends to stand still when you're trying to get a metal cream can off a bear's head, but the whole process took about 20 minutes from the time the firefighters arrived.
"As soon as the can came off its head, it took a couple of big breaths and then it just kind of took a look around at everybody that was standing there and then made a beeline for the woods," Benjamin said.
There wasn't anything in the can except water and a few leaves, Benjamin said. Only the bear knows for sure, but northwest Minnesota is extremely dry, and Benjamin speculates the bear was just trying to get a drink.
As bear tales always do, the story has generated quite a buzz on social media. More than 1,400 people have given the story on the DNR's Facebook page a "like" or other positive reaction as of Tuesday morning, and more than 500 people had shared the story.
The happy ending came together quickly once the firefighters arrived.
"The last thing i wanted to do was put that bear down, but there wouldn't have been any other options if we couldn't get that can off its head," Benjamin said. "When we pulled the can off its head and saw how big its head was, it doesn't even seem like it would even be possible to get its head in there."
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Topic: Bear rescue W/jaws a life (Read 1767 times)
