Biologists Save Bear Cub Stuck In Jar

Should have been you, Spencer Pratt!

It's the Florida black bear version of the Snow White ride at Disney World: small children, a trip through the forest, someone popping out from behind a tree, and screams.

But a bear cub affectionately nicknamed "Jarhead" saved the $80 ticket price by providing his own thrills, and biologists from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commision saved his life by removing a jar that had been stuck on his head for 10 days.

And unlike that Disney version, only one childhood was scarred.

"I jumped out in front of them like some crazed lunatic and just screamed," said FWC biologist Mike Orlando of the moment he and his colleagues finally found Jarhead with a sibling and their three-legged mother, a week and a half after he was first spotted in distress near the Ocala National Forest.

Orlando shot the mama bear with a tranquilizer dart, and then he and fellow FWC employee Brian Schieck jumped the startled 25-pound cub. 

Though only six months old, Jarhead put up a pretty good fight -- and even got away once.

"Brian was flying through the air literally like Superman," Orlando told. "When his face hit the ground, he grabbed both legs."

The two were then able to pin Jarhead's ears back and tug the jar off, only to have Jarhead say thanks with his teeth.

"He was...just hanging on my arm," Orlando said, "and I couldn't shake him off."

Eventually, the entire family was coralled and kept overnight for observation -- the biologists wanted to make sure Jarhead could nurse -- before being re-released into the forest. It was a close call in the race against starvation.

"He walked with his head sunk down," Orlando said. "The other two cubs were playing, and this poor thing [was] dying."

FWC officials believe Jarhead became stuck while rooting through unsecured trash, and Orlando warns that such incidents might not always end so happily.

"We're humans," he said. "We're smart enough that we should be able to take care of our trash."

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