'A Winnie-the-Pooh situation'
|
|
A black bear lies with his head stuck inside a steel milk can on Sunday, just off Route 106 in Reading. Photo Provided |
Toolbox
By Dennis Jensen STAFF WRITER - Published: April 20, 2010
READING — Forrest Hammond, a biologist with the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, came upon a strange scene after he was contacted by Ascutney Fire Department Chief Darrin Spaulding early Sunday afternoon.
What Hammond found was a black bear with his head stuck inside a steel milk can, about 100 yards off the road on Route 106.
The 53-year-old Hammond, a longtime bear biologist who lives in Hartland, arrived at the scene at about 12:30 p.m., with state police, firemen and a crowd of about 20 people looking on.
Fortunately for the bear — a young male that weighed about 120 pounds — Hammond had a kit in his truck with three vials of Telazol, a tranquilizer, left over from a bobcat capture last winter.
Helpers on the scene secured a rope to the milk can and then to a tree to keep the bear from moving about and injuring itself.
"It was lying quietly and breathing heavily, obviously exhausted and battered from having been stuck in the can for at least six hours and, during that time, running and bumping into trees and boulders," Hammond said.
Hammond prepared a syringe of 400 mg of Telazol and used a jab stick on the bear at about 12:40.
Ten minutes later the bear was immobilized by the drug.
Then the real fun began.
Hammond attempted to pull the can off the bear's head, but to no avail.
The bear's head was stuck to the can "and would not come off, even after the application of a container of liquid soap," Hammond said.
With a crowd gathered around the scene, Hammond went with Plan B.
"It was a comical scene, with me hugging and pulling on the bear and firemen pulling on the milk can," he said.
Eventually, Hammond said, a fireman helped by cutting the rim of the can with bolt cutters and then bending back the metal until they were able to work the bear's head out.
At about 20 minutes after one, Hammond wrote, the young bear "got to its feet and walked out of sight."
Hammond said he tried to determine why the young bear ended up with its head in a 10-pound milk can, "the old one our grandparents used to haul milk around in farms."
The milk can "looked like there was some residue of grain or bird seed in it," he said. "It was kind of rotted. It looks like he came down during the night. This time of the year they're scavenging, trying to find whatever they can eat. There's not much out there at this time of the year — mostly grasses and buds. They can't find high-energy food. That's why they're attracted to bird seed and bird feeders."
Scott Darling, Hammond's supervisor at Fish & Wildlife, said that Hammond's actions on Sunday illustrated his professionalism as the head of the bear project in Vermont.
"Everybody benefited by Forrest Hammond's actions and his skill on that particular day," Darling said. "That includes the black bear, for sure."
John Hall, a spokesman for the Fish & Wildlife, said Monday that Hammond was both calm and imaginative in rescuing a wild bear.
"Forrest Hammond responded to this call for help from local citizens while he was doing chores at home on the weekend," Hall said. "He really went all the way and showed that he really cares. He used his professional training and skill as a biologist to free a young bear that might have otherwise died as a result of being caught in the milk can."
Hammond, who works out of the Springfield office, said it was the strangest bear encounter he could remember.
"It was kind of fun," he said. "It was literally a Winnie-the-Pooh situation."
The Reading Fire Department firefighters and state police "did a wonderful job" in helping release the bear, Hammond said.
"They were very caring about the animal. That was really nice," he said.
dennis.jensen@rutlandherald.com
4