Forgotten trail camera captures bear and other wildlife

A trail camera left in a forest for nine months photographed moose, deer, cranes and a bear, Raja farm owner Tarvo Siilaberg told ERR’s programme Ringvaade.

Siilaberg said he put the camera in the forest in January but could not remember where he had left it. He eventually found it nine months later, despite its camouflage making it difficult to spot. The camera was still working, and its battery had not run out.

He had placed it at the edge of a bog forest, where a ditch bank meets a meadow, hoping to photograph a lynx. The camera was positioned at what Siilaberg described as a wildlife crossroads. He said the moose’s route past the farm was already known to them and had prompted him to set up the camera there.

The bear was among the last animals photographed and was the first image Siilaberg saw when he took the camera down. He said a photo of the cranes was his favourite. The farm is in Kanassaare village, Põlva municipality.

Siilaberg said he hoped to forget the camera in the forest again, adding that good things can happen when people step back.