For weeks, citizens of Perry Township, in Clarion County Penn., continued to encounter a pitiful black bear with a bucket stuck over its head. While most drove on after passing the bear on the side of the road, others called the local Pennsylvania Game Commission to get some help for the bear. After weeks of watching the animal fumble around town (with no help from the game commission) a group of volunteers took it upon themselves to help the bear out.
Dubbed "Bucket Bear" by the community, a Facebook group sprung up dedicated to rescuing the bear from its bucket prison.
"The purpose of this page is to draw attention to this young bear's situation, so he can be helped with humane assistance before it's too late," the page reads. "This bear has been walking about near busy roadways, into yards, etc for the past month with what looks like a bucket stuck to his head. He cannot eat, drink or see. We would like the authorities to assist him! #savebucketbear!"
Though Perry Township, Penn., as of the 2000 census, has a population barely over 1,000, nearly 3,000 people have liked the page as a sign of support. Despite the public cries for help, the Penn. Game Commission continually failed to act. So the citizens of Perry Township took action themselves.
On Monday, "Bucket Bear" was finally saved. It wasn't easy by any means -- it took a handful of people to find, hold and saw the bucket of the animal's head. The moment the bucket was removed, "Bucket Bear" sprinted off into the forest.
Turns out the "bucket" wasn't actually a bucket at all, explaining why the bear and his rescuers had such a difficult time removing it. According to the Patriot News, the bear had actually trapped its head inside a "maxi," a black air bag that provides cushioning between a tractor and its trailer. The metal rim of the maxi got stuck around the bear's neck and prevented it from being simply pulled off.
Only after the rescue of "Bucket Bear" did the Game Commission respond to the whole ordeal.
"We received several calls over the course of the last month-and-a-half or so, and officers responded several times to sites where the bear had been spotted," Travis Lau, commission press secretary, told the Partiot News."But we were never able to get there before the bear had moved on. We set a trap, which was kind of a long shot given the bear's head was covered. That didn't work either."
Despite the inability of local officials to do their job, it looks like the "Bucket Bear" saga gets a happy ending, even if the bear likely has zero understanding of how he ever managed to get out of that bucket.
