Officials rescue bear after it roams nearly 50 miles through residential neighborhoods with jar on its head: 'Pretty disturbing'

One bear in Minnesota was recently rescued from having her head stuck in a jar after a journey of nearly 50 miles, CBS News reported.

WCCO's Jason Rantala interviewed several people involved in the story for a news report on CBS.

In the video, Jayme Morey, medical coordinator at the Chequamegon Humane Association, describes the scene as "pretty disturbing" but says "it was better than a happy ending" when the ordeal was all over.

The animal in question was a two-year-old female black bear with the unfortunate luck of getting her head stuck in a large, clear plastic jar. Over the course of a week, while the United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services searched for the bear, residents flooded social media with comments and photos detailing the animal's journey.

Morey says she received a call from a neighbor about the bear. "My immediate neighbor was like, 'Hey, just a heads up, here is what's heading towards your house.'"

When the bear was eventually found, it was near Cable, in Morey's neighbor's yard. Officials tranquilized the animal for its safety and the safety of responders before removing the jar.

TCD Picks » Upway Spotlight

💡Upway makes it easy to find discounts of up to 60% on premium e-bike brands

"We've seen this come up from time to time, often with a bear, occasionally with a deer," says Randy Johnson of the Wisconsin DNR. "You can tell the animal is skinny; it obviously had been wearing it for some time."

Despite that, other factors were in the bear's favor. She did not suffer other injuries, and she was able to drink by dunking her entire head in the water source. Furthermore, she is likely to make a full recovery.

"The good news is, this is the time of year when food is most abundant in the woods and, you know, she's got two months to kind of get back in healthy shape going into winter, so she's certainly got a good chance," Johnson says.

Ideally, though, this sort of situation would be avoided entirely. Plastic trash in the wild is a major problem, both because of its impact on wildlife and how microplastics that these larger items shed affect human health. Responsible individuals can take local action to help rid their communities of litter and prevent incidents like this one.