- Six people from Buncombe County removed three cubs from a tree
- The video shows one of the women dropping the child and he ran away frantically.
- One of the cubs was found by authorities very wet, cold and alone.
A group of six crazy people in North Carolina were filmed snatching cubs from a tree to take selfies, leading to at least one of the cubs having to be taken to a rehabilitation center.
On Tuesday, six people from Buncombe County removed the three cubs from a tree near the Berrington Village Apartments.
Video obtained by WLOS shows the group casually taking the cubs out of the tree to pose with them for photos.
Ashley Hobbs, special projects biologist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, was called to the scene.
“We saw the video in response to the bear being left alone,” Hobbs told the local media outlet. “We think the bear probably had a pretty traumatic experience.”
On Tuesday, six people from Buncombe County removed the three cubs from a tree near the Berrington Village Apartments.
The video shows the group casually taking the cubs out of the tree to pose with them for photos.
The group worked together to extract the first cub from the tree, despite its resistance to being disturbed.
After capturing the first cub, one of the women appears giddy, jumping up and down while holding the bear and preparing to take photos with it.
The group continued to attempt to drag the other two cubs, while one of the women dropped the cub while passing it to another person.
The little one, terrified, ran away from the group and ran along the fence to join his brothers and sisters.
“At an apartment complex in the Fairview area, this officer asked me to help him in response to this, so I got there and saw the little one,” Hobbs said.
Hobbs said when they arrived they found a cub described as being very wet, cold and alone for some time.
FOX Carolina reported that it is illegal for people to disturb bear dens in North Carolina, although it is unclear whether any of the people in the video could face charges.
“We followed up with the people who removed the bear from the tree,” Hobbs said.
One of the women dropped the cub while passing him to another person to take photos with him.
The little one, terrified, ran away from the group and ran along the fence to join his brothers and sisters.
“We confronted them there that day and let them know how irresponsible and potentially deadly it could be for this little one to be separated from its mother, especially ripped from a tree like that.”
“It’s frustrating to see people being so irresponsible towards wildlife, because it’s a blessing that we can live in the mountains around these creatures,” she said.
The cub found at the scene was taken to a rehabilitation center, but wildlife officials are unsure whether the other cubs made it back to their mother.
Jody Williams, founder of Help Asheville Bears, criticized the group for their selfish actions of disturbing the cubs and endangering their own lives and the lives of the cubs.
“Anything for a selfie, anything for a selfie,” he said. “It’s just ignorance, total selfishness, that’s not what we’re talking about when we talk about coexistence.”
dailymail us
