Wis. Troopers Find Young Bear On Highway, Looking In Car Windows
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Transportation officials in northern Wisconsin say they found a young black bear wondering around a highway over the weekend and peeping inside of cars.
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation posted photos of the bear to Facebook. The post says a trooper saw the bear Friday on WIS 17 in Oneida County.
Wild Instincts, a wildlife rehabilitation group in nearby Rhinelander, says the troopers called them to deal with the bear, which was a young female weighing about 90 pounds.
The wildlife group says the bear is likely experiencing her first winter without her mother and might have been displaced from her den.
For a bear to approach cars and look into windows is not normal, Wild Instincts says.
The group speculates that something could be medically wrong with the young bear or that she became accustomed to humans who fed her, which wildlife experts do not encourage.
Wild Instincts says the bear was retrieved and is currently sleeping her winter sleep in safety. However, come spring she will have to be evaluated to determine if she can be released back into the wild.