A sharp-eyed Swedish helicopter pilot helped remove a fishing lure snagged on the back of a bear in northern Sweden, dpa quoted reports as saying today. Pilot Ulf Grinde spotted the bear on a reconaissance flight Thursday while conducting an aerial count of radio-collared female bears near Sveg in the central province of Harjedalen. Grinde and a veterinarian on the helicopter saw that the male bear was not wearing a radio collar, but noticed something glitter on the animal's back, the Lanstidningen Ostersund newspaper said. They used a tranquilizer dart to sedate the 170-kilogram bear, and then on examination of the animal they removed the fishing lure. "It was a 5-gram copper lure with red dots, ideal for trout," Grinde told the newspaper.
