Sausville said no one knows where the milk can came from or what was in it that attracted the bear. Still, he said the intervention serves as a reminder of how curious and how food-driven bears are.

The bear, then just a cub, was first spotted on trail cameras in 2023. His head was stuck in a 5-inch diameter hole in a blue plastic lid, the kind that might be found on a 55-gallon drum.