The province says it was forced to euthanize a black bear cub to prevent further suffering despite best efforts by rescuers who tried to save the animal.

The cub was discovered by a family and a hunter on Sunday in Sandilands Provincial Forest. The bear was covered with porcupine quills, especially around its snout.

With no mother bear in sight, the group held the cub down to try to remove some of the quills with pliers so it could eat again, said Vern Friesen, who had been in the area hunting for deer before he stumbled upon the injured bear.

"Winter is coming and this bear is pretty small. I don't think it would survive on its own," said Friesen.

"I don't think it's been fed for quite some time."

At one point the bear climbed up a tree but rescuers say it later fell out because it was so weak. (supplied by Claude Plante)

Friesen offered the bear some beef jerky and eventually the group coaxed it into a dog kennel. Conservation workers picked up the bear from a home in Richer, Man., on Monday afternoon.

A spokesperson for Manitoba Sustainable Development said the cub was examined by a veterinarian and found to be in "very poor body condition."

"The cub only weighed 9 kilograms and had no fat stores and little muscle mass. The cub had numerous porcupine quills on face, neck and legs. It was determined to have pneumothorax (collapsed lung), likely due to a number of quills in the chest cavity," the spokesperson said.

Bear should have been given a chance: rescue

The euthanasia of the bear​ doesn't sit well with Julie Woodyer, the spokesperson for Black Bear Rescue Manitoba.

In her opinion, the bear shouldn't have been put down.

​"Certainly if this was your dog … you would go give the animal a surgery. Now they're under anesthetic so they can't suffer anymore and under anesthetic, then you would determine is it truly euthanasia situation. You don't determine that prior to doing that."

She saw photos of the cub climbing a tree two days ago, which means its body condition isn't as frail as the province is saying, she said.

She's seen animals in worse shape that have survived and it could have been taken to a rescue to recover over the winter, she said, but for some reason the province doesn't want to have bears wintered.

"I just think the animal should have been given a chance," she said.

The province said surgery was ruled out because the bear was so small and weak.

"The animal was euthanized to reduce further suffering," said the department spokesperson.

Friesen and the other rescuers had hoped the bear would be rehabilitated at Black Bear Rescue Manitoba.