Researchers investigating earlier bear reproduction in Minnesota

Each winter, Andy Tri and his team cautiously approach bear den after bear den, where a DNR-collared bear is hunkering to make it through a Minnesota winter.
Tri, the DNR’s bear project leader, and other researchers start by covering the opening of the den with a cloth and sneaking a syringe full of anesthetic into the den until it finds its mark. After a bear’s been injected, the clock starts ticking for the researchers to collect all the desired data before she awakes from her slumber.
“This is, I think, year 41 we’ve been doing this, so we’re pretty well oiled,” Tri said.