The incident was captured on April 16 and saw the group standing outside of a Buncombe County apartment complex pulling the black cubs from the tree.
A group in North Carolina was caught pulling bear cubs from a tree to take a selfie with them.
The incident, which was caught on camera on April 16 and shared by ABC11 affiliate WLOS, saw the group standing outside of a Buncombe County apartment complex pulling the black cubs from the tree and turning around to take a picture with one of them.
Meanwhile, the clip also included a cub running back toward the fence.
North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission special projects biologist Ashley Hobbs told the outlet that authorities were called after the video was sent to the commission on April 16.
“An apartment complex in the Fairview area, that officer did ask me to assist him in response to that, so I did get on site and I saw the cub,” Hobbs said.
She added that when she arrived at the scene, there was only one cub that was still there.
The animal was reportedly wet and cold and appeared to have been alone for a long period of time.
“Very traumatic to be pulled out of a tree like that,” Hobbs said.
The cub was reportedly unharmed and is currently being taken care of in a rehab facility.
“We did follow up with the people who pulled the bear out of the tree,” the biologist continued. “We did confront them onsite that day. We let them know how irresponsible and potentially deadly it could be for that cub to be separated from its mom.”
She added, “It is frustrating to see people be that irresponsible around wildlife because it is a blessing that we get to live in the mountains around these creatures.”
Help Asheville Bears founder Jody Williams also expressed his disappointment.
“All for a selfie, all for a selfie,” he said, adding, “It’s just ignorance, total selfishness, this is not what we talk about when we talk about coexisting.”
