Many animal lovers would be torn to see a kitten or puppy abandoned on the side of the road, wishing to take care of it themselves. One man had the same feeling, but was met with an unexpected result.
A man found what he thought was a little black puppy on the side of the road in 2017, only to take it home and care for it, and discover two years later that it was in fact a black bear, Chinese online news outlet KNews reported on June 23.
The man, named Li Lianggui, found the bear in Pu'er city, Yunnan Province, China. At the time, he thought it was an abandoned puppy, so he decided to take it home to raise it himself.
What Li thought was a dog was actually a 165-pound (75 kg) Asian Black Bear. These bears are also sometimes called white-chested bears or moon bears, as the white patch on their chest looks similar to a crescent moon.
Though the bears used to be present throughout much of China’s low land areas, they are now mostly confined to the southern provinces, which includes Li’s home village.
At the time, we didn’t know it was a bear,“ Li said in raspy voice to KNews. ”We thought it was a puppy, and so we raised it.”
The report said that Li would feed his “puppy” vegetables and fruit. But over time, he noticed his pet was getting bigger and bigger.
When it finally dawned on him that he was raising a bear instead of a dog, Li contacted the local authorities.
On June 14, the bear was transferred to the Pu'er Wildlife Temporary Shelter.
In China, the Asian Black Bear is a protected animal.
