“Iron Man” by Black Sabbath was used by Colorado rangers to persuade a bear out of a tree

Rangers with Colorado Parks And Wildlife Northeast Region used a classic Black Sabbath song to coax a black bear out of a neighbourhood tree in Golden, Colorado. The incident occurred on May 14th near the Colorado School of Mines campus, a 15-mile drive west of Denver, the Colorado Parks And Wildlife Northeast Region. Officials said the bear was reluctant to leave the neighbourhood after finding food by getting into trash left out from the night before.

When you’re out on a bear stakeout, you think it’s going to be all action. You never think you’re going to spend at least 6 hours in a car waiting on a bear to stop sleeping and climb down from a tree. And yet… Colorado Parks And Wildlife Northeast Region

The bear eventually came down and Colorado Parks And Wildlife Northeast Region successfully scared it in the right direction toward wilder spaces. But then it went up another tree. “Why bear, why,” Rangers quipped. At that point, Colorado Parks And Wildlife Northeast Region decided to utilize technology with the assistance of the Golden Police Department, by deploying a drone and blasting “Iron Man” from a loudspeaker.

While slightly annoyed by the drone, we decide to use music blasted at the bear. Now, if he starts banging his head, we’ve got a problem. We know based on past behavior that it’s probably not moving until dark. We wait until nighttime and the bear finally comes down when almost all humans are gone. Colorado Parks And Wildlife Northeast Region

Time to break out the tech. @GoldenCOPS help us with a drone to see if an unfamiliar noise from above would make the bear descend. pic.twitter.com/q4G4vlh4eD— CPW NE Region (@CPW_NE) May 15, 2024

Officials shared a few “takeaway lessons”, including that people should keep their trash “inside until the morning of trash day. This bear ate trash left out in the neighbourhood the night before,” officials said. “Save a bear’s life by keeping it away from trash.” They also shared information about living in bear country and cohabitating with bears. “Bears are cute but still very much wild animals,” officials said, then added: “Black bears don’t mind Black Sabbath.” Can we blame them? Obviously not!