Mr. Gao, who lives in Ban Dong Wu village in China's
Chang'an District, found the tiny black bear on his way home with friends after
a night out celebrating his birthday.
He decided to take it home after spotting it was being
circled by a large dog.
After spending several days looking after the bear, which
is thought to be less than three months old, he has developed a strong
affection for the creature, who he named ‘Xiong Da' (Big Bear).
“I thought it was a puppy being bullied by a bigger dog,
so I stopped an picked it up and put it into my car.
“When I opened the car door and my lights came on, I
thought it looked more like a bear than a puppy.” He said.
It wasn’t until Mr. Gao, he realized that the animal that
he had found, was not a dog.
“I was shocked to realize I had picked up a bear, he must
have been separated from its mother. I knew it couldn’t look for food so we
thought we would look after it for a while.” he, added.
What really surprised Mr. Gao at was that Xiong Da, was
not afraid of his new surroundings at all - and spends his days drinking milk,
eating apples and climbing trees in his home.
He even dives into the water feature in his garden for a
swim.
“After bringing it home I have been feeding it milk and
apples and even sausages and sweetcorn. As long as it , he will eat it, and he
is growing so fast,” said Mr. Gao.
“He likes to hold the milk bottle to drink, and loves to
swim. He has a very gentle temperament and will not make any noise unless you
make him angry…then it will make a growling sound.” he said.
Although Mr Gao has developed a bond with Xiong Da after
just six days, bears are a protected species in China and keeping one at home
is not allowed.
He has plans on keeping the bear for a while before
returning it to its natural habitat, but is worried that he may be harmed if
someone catches him.
He contacted the authorities in an effort to return the
bear to his home in the mountains.
Zheng Ce, an official from the Chang'an District Forestry
Department, identified the creature as a black bear cub.
“This is a black bear and is a category 2 protected
species, and is about two to three months old.” he said.
Mr. Zheng said that the cub will be taken to Xian Wild
Animal Management Centre for medical checkups, and if found to be in good
health, officials will care for the cub until it is able to fend for itself
before releasing it back into the wild.
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