Bear with bucket stuck on head rescued after being chased up a tree

July 19 (UPI) -- A bear seen wandering in Colorado with a chicken feeder bucket stuck around its head for over a week was rescued with the help of two men who chased the animal up a tree.

Drew McConaughy said he was working on his under-construction home in the Foothills near Boulder with friend Dave Sherman when they spotted the bear running through the woods.

The men said they had been familiar with the bear after Colorado Parks and Wildlife asked the public to keep a lookout for a bear with a plastic bucket stuck around its head. CPW officials said the bear appeared to still be able to eat and drink, but they were concerned about what would happen later in the season when the bear put on more weight.

The two men contacted CPW, but they were concerned the bear would leave the area before officials could arrive.

"Well, Drew said he wanted to tackle it, and I said, 'I don't know if I want a part of that,' so we kind of chased it up the tree," Sherman told KMGH-TV.

McConaughy said chasing the bear up a tree turned out to be a successful plan.

"As she started going up the tree, we realized that was probably the best case scenario, and we just encouraged that. So, once she was up there, we just did everything we could to keep her up there until the professionals arrived," McConaughy said.

CPW tranquilized the bear and borrowed McConaughy's ladders to safely bring the animal back down to the ground. The bucket was removed and CPW officials said they hazed the bear to reinforce its fear of humans while releasing it.

"A bear naturally should be afraid of humans. The case in point of how this bear got into that situation in the first place is that it broke into someone's chicken coup and got that feeder stuck on its head," CPW spokesman Jason Clay said.