Here’s how not to co-exist with wildlife: You see a cute animal, like a black bear cub, in a tree, so you pluck it out to take photos with it. A group of people in Asheville, North Carolina, decided this would be a good choice, but others nearby didn’t agree. Rachel Staudt caught the whole thing on video.
In a clip circulating online, you can see a woman reaching over a short fence and snatching a black bear cub from a tree. The woman seems giddy as she holds it. She poses for a photo before the cub leaps from her arms and tries to run away. It’s too small to get back over the fence.
Another man in the group pulls a second bear cub out of the tree, holds it for a moment, then appears to try to put it back.
Staudt and her companion, another woman, initially look on in horror. You can hear one of the women say she doesn’t know what to do. Right before the video cuts off, the women jump into action. They yell at the group “put [the cub] back!” and “it’s scared!”
Watch what some people will do for a photo op:
Bear Cub Left Cold and Alone After Being Pulled From Tree
Ashley Hobbs, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission special projects biologist, told local news station WLOS that when she arrived on scene, there was only one cub present. It was wet, cold, and alone.
Hobbs said the mother bear had likely left her cubs in a tree she thought was safe with plans to come back. This is normal behavior during this time of year.
“We did follow up with the people who pulled the bear out of the tree,” she told WLOS. “We did confront them on site that day and let them know how irresponsible and potentially deadly it could be for that cub to be separated from its mom, especially ripped out of a tree like that.”
The cub is now in a wildlife rehabilitation facility, and the plan is to re-release it. Hopefully it will find its family again.