A female black bear that wandered around Southwest Florida with a plastic container on her head for nearly a month has been rescued, wildlife officials said.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission documented the 250-pound bear’s rescue in a Facebook post on Monday.
The bear was spotted twice on surveillance footage before a Collier County resident’s security camera caught the animal lumbering through the area, the FWC said.
The latest video allowed wildlife officials to locate and rescue the animal, the FWC wrote on Facebook. They tranquilized the bear and removed the container.
“We think it was part of an automatic pet feeder due to the hole near the bear’s muzzle,” the FWC wrote in its post. “Luckily that hole provided enough access to drink and eat. Even after 28 days of wearing it, the bear was still in great physical shape.”
The bear’s injury to her face was treated with antibiotics, and the animal was released into the wild at the Picayune Strand State Forest in Naples, the FWC wrote.
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