Bear Gets Stuck in Cookie Jar: Adorable Cub is NJ's Own 'Winnie the Pooh' (PHOTOS)
A bear got stuck in a cookie jar while rummaging for tasty animal crackers in Ringwood, New Jersey Tuesday, according to reports. The 28-pound cub was scared off from the trash can with his snout still in the jar and ran up a tree, getting wedged there.
The bear who got stuck in a cookie jar is about six months old, Larry Ragonese, a spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, told Reuters. Still, because of its agitated condition about 40 feet up a nearby tree, it had to be tranquilized before it could be rescued by local firefighters.
"It's only 28 pounds but it has claws and was unhappy," he said, adding that firefighters were able to cut the jar off of the cub's head.
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The cub had stuck its head deep into the jar to get the last of the animal crackers, but because it was unable to get loose, it because dehydrated and distressed. To wake the creature from its slumber, firefighters dunked it in a barrel of water.
Now the cub— "maybe someone should call him 'Cookie,'" Ragonese suggested— is at an animal rehabilitation clinic. The recovery is expected to take about six weeks before animal workers release it into the wild.
Though bears getting stuck in cookie jars are unusual, the curious and hungry creatures are often seen in Ringwood and other areas in northwestern New Jersey. Ragonese said that residents shouldn't leave garbage outside overnight and use bear-proof trash cans to prevent similar incidents. Otherwise, hungry nocturnal creatures might imitate another famously hungry bear.
"Like Winnie the Pooh said, 'Don't get a jar stuck on your head,'" Ragonese said.
