In a video that caused anger among animal lovers worldwide, a group of people from North Carolina, USA, forcible pulled down 3 black bear cubs hanging from a tree and held them in their arms for selfies. The cubs were visibly frightened. One of the cubs seemed to be separated from its mother and was later taken to an animal rehabilitation center.The incident happened one afternoon at a fence near an apartment building in the Fairview area in Buncombe County. In the video, there were about 6 men and women who approached the tree next to the fence and forcibly pulled 3 black bear cubs hanging from the trees. The group wanted to take selfies with the frightened bear cubs. One of them tried to escape by running away but was pursued by one of the group members.
NC Wildlife Resources Commission Special Projects Biologist Ashley Hobbs said that she saw 3 cubs being pulled out of a tree in a video that circulated the internet. However, when she arrived at the scene, she only found 1. The cub was wet and cold and seemed to have been separated from its mom.
“We did follow up with the people who pulled the bears out of the tree,” Ashley Hobbs said. “We did confront them on sight that day. We let them know how irresponsible and potentially deadly it is for that cub to be separated from its mom…”
The lone bear cub was brought to the Animal Rehabilitation Center for care and observation. However, the staff plans to release it back into the wild after a few days.