WOOD COUNTY, Wis. — A black bear was discovered in an unusual place on Friday in Wisconsin– inside a drainage tunnel.
Neighbors driving by spotted the 300-pound hibernating bear and stopped to take a look from a safe distance, although they zoomed their camera in close. Much to their surprise, they saw through their camera lens that the bear’s eyes were open and shining in the dark.
Click here for pictures of the hibernating bear.
“While they’re hibernating they are not truly asleep,” said Courtney Schaefer with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. “They can easily be woken up.”
Schaefer, a wildlife biologist, says black bears are generally submissive and that it’s very unusual for them to attack anyone.
Black bears hibernate four months out of the year. DNR officials say man-made objects like a culvert are not uncommon places for bears to settle in.
“A lot of dens are quite obvious to the visible eye,” Schaefer said.
According to the Missouri Department of Conservation, the bear population in Missouri has been on the rise since the 1960s. For more on the Missouri Black Bear Project, click here.
What do you do if you come across a hibernating bear?
“It’s okay to take a look but again, exercise caution,” Schaefer warned. “Don’t allow the bear to feel it’s threatened…the bear will probably stay where it is.”
Yikes!