Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
THIS BEAR cub was rescued in the dead of winter in the city of Ironwood. Liz Sweeney, of the Ironwood Public Safety Department, supplied the photo.
By RALPH ANSAMI
Ironwood - A small injured bear that was found outside in the dead of winter in Ironwood received a new lease on life.
According to weekly reports for late February and early March from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Sgt. Grant Emery responded to a complaint about the injured bear cub in the city of Ironwood.
The Ironwood Public Safety Department filed a March 5 report about the bear.
It had been hanging around for a week when it should have been in a den hibernating.
Emery - who formerly lived and worked in Bessemer - located the bear, which turned out to weigh only around 35 pounds. It was under a spruce tree next to the back door of a city residence.
Bears weigh only about eight ounces when born in dens. A year-old bear can weigh from 15 to 100 pounds, depending on its first year food supplies.
The Ironwood bear didn't appear to be emaciated.
"People were leaving food and milk out for it and teenagers were going up to the bear and taking selfies with their phones," Emery reported.
Using a catch pole, Emery was able to capture the bear and place it in a dog carrier.
The cub was then placed in a heated stall and given food and water that night before it was transported by the DNR's Wildlife Division to a rehabilitation facility equipped to handle injured bears.
Rehabilitators there are able to provide needed care, according to the DNR's report.
