Chinese Family Adopts Asiatic Black Bear Thinking It Is A Puppy

A Chinese family who adopted what they believed to be a pet dog has been forced to give it up after realising what they had taken into their family was actually a black bear instead. The family is from the Chinese city of Kunming in Yunnan province, and took in what they believed was a Tibetan mastiff puppy whilst on holiday in the region in 2016. What they in fact had inadvertently brought home with them was an Asiatic black bear cub which has now been handed over to a local animal sanctuary.

Insatiable appetite raised suspicions

The owner told a local news service that the family started to become suspicious after “Little Black” simply did not stop growing and continued to gorge on a box of fruit and two buckets of noodles every day. On that diet alone, the bear grew to around 3 feet and weighed 250 pounds. Black bears are well known to stand on their hind legs which is something dogs rarely if ever do. That along with their pet’s insatiable appetite and appearance that was becoming increasingly strange made the family understand they had made a mistake.

Scared of releasing the bear

A neighbour said the more the animal grew, the more it started to look like a bear and even the owner admitted to being scared of her overgrown pet and was afraid of what would happen if she released the animal. Fortunately, the family understood that keeping a bear is illegal and sought help from the local authorities. The bear appears to be in good health and is now being cared for by the Yunnan Wildlife Rescue Centre.

Hunted for body parts

In China, the Asiatic black bear is a protected species and the IUCN considers it vulnerable. The bears are often hunted for their body parts which are used in traditional Chinese medicine which prizes the species gall bladder and bile. There are legal “bear farms” in China which have been established to procure bile from black bears that are being held captive. The IUCN estimates there are 70 of these farms in China with a combined population of 17,000 bears. International trade in black bear bile is illegal under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

Not the first time this has happened

This is not the first time in China someone has adopted a black bear by mistake, thinking it was a puppy. In 2015 a Yunnan farmer rescued what he believed to be was an abandoned dog from some nearby forests. Despite realising his mistake, the farmer continued to keep the bear whom he had named “Scorpion” in a large cage on his property. Fortunately, someone eventually notified local authorities and the bear was taken into care.