Bear cub trapped for hours at Sunshine Coast brewery
It's OK, sweetheart. Many will want to avert their eyes from this. The sight of a young black bear struggling for its life after getting its head caught in a food industry grease trap. When I got there was not a pretty sight. Trina Lynsel and Tammy Trefire, wildlife advocates who were called to help. It happened Sunday morning at Persephone, a popular brew pub and farm near Gibson's. Lynn Cell thinks the bear may have been trapped for as long as 12 hours. He was exhausted, he was panting, he was dehydrated, he was scared. As police and then conservation showed up, customers watched as one of B CS most challenging wildlife coexistence issues played out. Of all the reasons why bears end up in communities and getting hurt or even killed, one of the top ones is mismanagement of attractance by people. Leslie Fox runs the Furbearers and says it's up to people, not wildlife, to keep them out of trouble with known attractants. Can be food scraps, pet food, fallen fruit, barbecues, grease traps by businesses which we've seen in this situation. The grease trap was apparently meant to be bear proof and it's unclear whether it was set up improperly or there was another issue. I believe the manufacturers flaw is they did not count for Cubs and yearlings. A larger bear could not put his head in there. Persephone Brewing said they were extremely upset. And taking greater steps to fortify their property. As bad as it looked, it ended OK, though. The cub was tranquilized, its head eased out with Vaseline, and it was revived and released in the woods. The whole episode, though avoidable and painful to see, Crushing, heartbreaking, absolutely heartbreaking. Ian Gibson's Paul Johnson. Global News.