Bear cub yanked from tree by group for photo gets good news after months of rehab
After months of rehabilitation, a bear cub that gained international attention from a video showing a group of people pulling her from a tree was released back into the wild, officials said.
The young animal was set loose in a remote mountain area in Western North Carolina after the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission determined the cub to be in good health and able to survive on her own, wildlife officials said in a Nov. 20 news release.
Data from the bear’s tracking collar shows she has been adjusting well since being released, Ashley Hobbs, the agency’s Bearwise coordinator, said in the release.
“Like most rehabilitated black bear cubs, we expect this cub to follow its instincts this winter and identify an appropriate location to den,” Hobbs said. “Bear cubs are resilient animals, and it looks like this cub won’t be an exception.”
The video, taken April 16 at an apartment complex in Asheville, shows people yanking the baby bears off a tree and posing for photos with them.
Rescuers later found one of the cubs by a retention pond nearby and took her to a rehabilitation facility, the release said.
Officials said the cub was found lethargic, scared, wet and favoring a front paw as a result of the group’s actions, McClatchy News reported in April. Another bear seen taken off the tree in the video and believed to be the bear’s sibling was not found, officials said.
Although wildlife experts condemned the group’s actions as “unnecessary” and “irresponsible,” no one was charged because authorities believed the incident was “isolated,” McClatchy News reported.
“People who try to capture or handle a cub are not only risking the cub’s safety, but their own if the mother bear is nearby, as she may try to defend her cubs,” Game Mammals and Surveys Supervisor Colleen Olfenbuttel said in the release. “By trying to capture a bear cub, you may cause it to become orphaned, injured or both.”
This cub was the ninth one that the agency has rehabilitated and released this year, officials said.
This story was originally published November 20, 2024 at 5:40 PM with the headline "Bear cub yanked from tree by group for photo gets good news after months of rehab."
