ASHEVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — The bear cub that gained fame thanks to a selfie taken at an Asheville apartment complex earlier this year has finished rehabilitation and been released in a remote area, wildlife officials said.
The orphaned female bear cub gained international interest earlier this year when video was posted on social media showing a group of people pulling her from a tree and then taking photos of themselves holding her. It is illegal in North Carolina to possess or keep a black bear cub.
The cub was rescued by N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission staff in a nearby retention pond and taken to a state-licensed rehabilitation facility, a news release from the NCWRC said. A second cub, presumed to be her sibling, was seen running away in the video and was never found. It is unknown whether the cubs were in the tree because they had been orphaned or if the two were simply waiting for their mother to return, the news release said. While rehabilitated animals are generally not given names, the public referred to her as “selfie bear.”
CLICK HERE TO SEE VIDEO OF ‘SELFIE BEAR’ BEING RELEASED
Once staff determined she was healthy and able to successfully survive in the wild, she was fitted with a tracking collar and given identifying tags and marks before being released in an undisclosed and remote Western North Carolina mountain area, the news release said.
“The GPS collar data shows that she is adjusting well to life back in the wild,” NCWRC Bearwise Coordinator Ashley Hobbs said in the news release. “Like most rehabilitated black bear cubs, we expect this cub to follow its instincts this winter and identify an appropriate location to den. Bear cubs are resilient animals, and it looks like this cub won’t be an exception.”
CLICK HERE TO SEE VIDEO OF THE CUB SELFIE INCIDENT
NCWRC wildlife biologists advise that a bear cub seen alone is rarely orphaned. Often, the mother bear is nearby foraging for food and will return in a few hours, or earlier. Remaining in the area or attempting to catch the cub could inadvertently separate it from its mother and possibly injure the cub.
“People who try to capture or handle a cub are not only risking the cub’s safety, but their own if the mother bear is nearby, as she may try to defend her cubs,” Game Mammals and Surveys Supervisor Colleen Olfenbuttel said in the release. “By trying to capture a bear cub, you may cause it to become orphaned, injured or both.”
By fall, calls to the agency wildlife helpline about suspected orphaned bear cubs decline and are replaced by inquiries concerning bears denning in urban areas. If a healthy cub is orphaned in late summer or early fall, it is old enough to be self-sufficient, as shown by the successful release of rehabilitated black bear cubs at this same time of year.
When bears and their cubs emerge in the spring, NCWRC advises the public to contact NCWRC if they if they suspect they’ve encountered an orphaned bear cub and not attempt to approach, capture or feed it. Instead, give the mother plenty of room and time to reconnect with her cub. To avoid harming yourself or the bear cub:
- Do not handle it.
- Do not attempt to catch it.
- Do not remove it.
- Do not feed it.
- Do take note of your location and call the NC Wildlife Helpline (866-318-2401). If after hours or on weekends, call a district wildlife biologist to report it.
Olfenbuttel added, “It’s imperative for the public to never feed a bear of any age. This will cause it to become habituated to people, and with cubs, it makes it more challenging for successful rehabilitation back into the wild. Last year, an orphaned cub was repeatedly approached and fed by people and despite our rehabilitator’s best efforts, the cub was too habituated to be successfully released back in the wild.”
This bear was the ninth cub rehabilitated and released by NCWRC in 2024.