Bear cubs were pulled from a tree so a group could take photos with them, a video from North Carolina shows.
One of the two cubs was later found scared and favoring a front paw, a condition one expert said was the result of the group’s “unnecessary and irresponsible” interaction. The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission said it hopes the other baby finds its mother because it depends on her to survive.
“Even if you don’t see the mother bear, she may be nearby and the cubs are waiting for her return,” Colleen Olfenbuttel, a hunting mammal and survey expert, said in an April 18 news release. “By trying to capture a bear cub, you could end up orphaning it, injuring it, or both, as we saw in this incident.”
Bear cub molested from NC Wildlife on Vimeo.
The moments were captured on camera at an apartment complex in the popular mountain town of Asheville. Officials responded to the area on April 16 after a report of people “seeing two bear cubs pulled out of a tree and taking pictures of themselves with the cubs.”
Video shows people reaching for the cubs on branches before someone grabbed one of them.
“She’s holding him!” someone is heard saying as the group member posed for photos with the bear.
“Poor thing!” one person said as a cub rushed off to the end of the minute-long clip.
Conservationists said the bears broke loose after one of them bit someone. One cub was found at a retention pond and sent to a rehabilitation center.
“The cub appeared lethargic and scared,” Ashley Hobbs, the commission’s BearWise coordinator, said in the news release. “It appeared he was favoring one of his front legs and was wet and shivering.”
The investigation into the video continues. In the meantime, officials urged people to keep their distance from bears and not take photos with them.
“We contacted the people who pulled the bear out of the tree,” Hobbs told WLOS, referring to the cub taken to rehab. “We confronted them on the spot that day and let them know how irresponsible and potentially fatal it could be if that cub were separated from its mother, especially if it were torn from a tree in that manner.”
What you need to know about bears in North Carolina
Black bears live in the eastern and western parts of North Carolina, often in swamps or forests. The animals generally stay away from people, although food and waste can bring them closer to people, the committee writes on its website.
Bears tend to be more active in the spring when they leave their dens. If you see a cub alone, it likely means its mother is looking for food and will return soon, The Charlotte Observer reported.
Tourists grab baby moose, put them in the car and go to the police station, Yellowstone rangers say
Visitors continue to harass sea lions on iconic California beach. Now the city is ordering closure
The man turns his back to the moose to take a selfie in the national park. Don’t do that, say rangers
