Bear Cub Juggles Saved From a Terrible Fate

A bear in Tennessee had an awful August and September as he spent the entire time with a plastic jug stuck on his head. Finally, on October 3, rescue angels were able to tranq the little bear and remove the thing, which turned out to be part of an automatic pet feeder.

On August 14, the Appalachian Bear Rescue and Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency received calls from residents near Chilhowee Lake who spotted the male cub donning the jug. The bear was with his mom and three siblings.

Rescue teams, with help from local residents, tried for weeks to trap the young bear. “Trapping a cub with a jug on its head is not an easy task,” the ABR wrote on its website. “On several occasions, the cub and his siblings went into the trap, but they didn't trip the trap. Another alternative was to trap the mother bear so that a wildlife official could safely approach the cub and try to remove the jug. The mother bear never went near the traps.”

The little bear was able to eat and drink just enough to stay alive, but he wouldn’t have lasted very long. Finally, he was spotted last week by locals who managed to chase him up a tree and keep him there until the pros arrived to catch and treat him. Animal rescue would not normally shoot a tranquilizer dart into a treed animal, but this was an emergency. The cub was brought to Tennessee's College of Veterinary Medicine for treatment. 

The bear, by now dubbed “Juggles,” was “in remarkably good condition,” per the ABR. “His ears are squashed down and were very dirty. … He had a bunch of ticks, likely because he couldn't groom himself.” Juggles was also found to have a urinary tract infection, likely the result of dehydration, that was treated with antibiotics.

Juggles is doing well and apparently really likes hospital food, which in this case consists of honey logs. He’s on track for release back into the wild and a family reunion soon.

Photo credit: Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency