Bear Cub Rescued From Pond After Being Yanked Out Of Tree For Photos

A group of people in North Carolina will not face charges for grabbing two bear cubs from a tree to pose for pictures as the animals struggled.

At least one black bear cub was left “a bit traumatized” after being pulled out of a tree, along with another cub, by people seeking photos.

Video shot by a witness outside an apartment complex in Asheville, North Carolina, on Tuesday showed a group of people pulling two struggling cubs out of the low branches of a tree and attempting to pose with them for photos.

At one point, one of the cubs can be seeing struggling free and running away while a person chases it.

Staffers from the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission were called to the scene after a cub bit one of the people, the wildlife agency said in a press release Thursday.

A cub was then located sitting alone, “lethargic and frightened” in a retention pond at the complex, NCWRC biologist and bear specialist Ashley Hobbs said in the press release. The cub was “wet and shivering” and was “favoring” one of its front paws, indicating a possible injury.