--- description: Colorado wildlife officials helped rescue a bear that had been wandering around for days with a plastic container stuck on its head. title: Oblivious Bear Wanders for Days With Cheese Ball Jar Stuck on Its Head image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [animals](/tag/animals/) ## animals Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Oblivious Bear Wanders for Days With Cheese Ball Jar Stuck on Its Head  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 21, 2016 6:23 PM CUT  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 21, 2016 6:23 PM CUT Colorado wildlife officials on Wednesday [helped rescue a bear](http://www.aspentimes.com/news/23034110-113/bear-wrangled-to-safety-after-getting-cheese-balls "undefined") that had been wandering around for days with a [plastic container stuck on its head](https://twitter.com/9NEWS/status/756170630635094016 "undefined"). Residents had seen the 2-year-old black bear cub walking around with what appeared to be a clear plastic Cheese Balls jug on its head for at least five days, but the animal kept darting off before they could help, The Aspen _Times_ reports. Jim Hawkins, who owns a local bed and breakfast in Glenwood Springs, spotted the cub again on Wednesday and quickly wrangled it with a rope before calling authorities. “He was just a little bear with a big problem,” Hawkins told the newspaper, adding that it looked like the cub was wearing a “space helmet.” > [](https://twitter.com/9NEWS/status/756170630635094016) Carbondale District Wildlife Officer John Groves arrived on scene to tranquilize the 100-lb. bear before using shears to cut the plastic off the animal’s head, according to the Aspen _Times_. The bear woke up a few minutes later, after Groves gave it a drug to reverse the tranquilizer. It drank some water and ran off, the newspaper said. \[[_Aspen Times_](http://www.aspentimes.com/news/23034110-113/bear-wrangled-to-safety-after-getting-cheese-balls "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4417603/bear-head-stuck-colorado-cheese-balls/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4417603/bear-head-stuck-colorado-cheese-balls/"},"headline":"Oblivious Bear Wanders for Days With Cheese Ball Jar Stuck on Its Head","datePublished":"2016-07-21T18:23:52.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T09:56:18.254Z","description":"“He was just a little bear with a big problem\"","url":"https://time.com/4417603/bear-head-stuck-colorado-cheese-balls/","keywords":["animals","Colorado"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/animals/","name":"animals"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4417603/bear-head-stuck-colorado-cheese-balls/","name":"Oblivious Bear Wanders for Days With Cheese Ball Jar Stuck on Its Head"}}]}] ```