Solo the bear and her cubs moved to Michigan

A one-eared female bear and her cubs are on their way to a Michigan wildlife sanctuary, but not before someone tried to dislodge the trio from their den with pepper spray.

The bear known as Solo had been hibernating under a cabin near Ely, Minn. Dept. of Natural Resources wildlife official Mike DonCarlos says officers went today to get the bears, only to find all three out of the den and suffering from eye irritation.

"When DNR staff got there this morning the bears weren't under the cabin. And there was a can of pepper spray there, and a strong odor of pepper spray under the cabin. We found the bears close by, and captured them and handled them without incident. But all three of those bears had been sprayed with pepper spray, by somebody," explains DonCarlos.

DonCarlos says the mother, Solo, has a history of approaching people and creating a nuisance. The DNR had planned to euthanize the bear, but faced with public outrage, they decided to move all three to an enclosed bear facility in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

An investigation is underway into the pepper spray incident with charges possible for whomever did it.