In a bizarre incident in China, a family was shocked to discover that their pet they had mistaken for a dog for two years was actually an Asiatic black bear.
Su Yun, a native of a remote village near the city of Kunming in Yunnan province, bought the animal while on holiday in 2016, believing it to be a Tibetan Mastiff puppy. Two years later, when their pet had grown to an alarming size of 250 pounds and began walking on two legs, the family was shocked and contacted authorities. According to a report in the New York Post (article beyond the paywall), officials identified the animal as an Asiatic black bear, which is classified as a vulnerable species on the World Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List.
Yun immediately senses her pup’s insatiable appetite—a box of fruit and two buckets of noodles a day. As it grew up, the animal’s behavior was not like that of any dog. “The more he grew, the more he looked like a bear”, she told the news outlet.
As Yun reached out to a professional, she was told that she had a pet Asiatic bear. Officials revealed that the bear weighed over 400 pounds and was over a meter long. The Yunnan Wildlife Rescue Department immediately captured the animal and tranquilized it before placing it in a cage, the report said.
Tibetan mastiffs are huge dogs with black-brown coats that can weigh up to 150 pounds, while fully grown male Asiatic bears, also known as Himalayan or moon bears, can weigh up to 400 pounds .
This strange incident first went viral in 2018. However, recently this news again went viral.
