Don’t Take Bear Cubs for Selfies Like These Tourists

One of the recurrent headlines we write about around here in our news section is the mishaps that befall people when taking photographs.

wildlife photography of brown bear cub
Wildlife photography of brown bear cub. Photo by 🇸🇮 Janko Ferlič

Sometimes they are accidents, but more often than not, they are the result of deliberately stupid actions on the part of participants.

Selfies, in particular, seem to be a dangerous genre with more accidents and deaths than perhaps any other format.

Yet when you consider headlines like today’s, it’s not hard to see why. Consider this a public service announcement, in case you needed it, but don’t ever take bear cubs out of a tree for selfies. In fact, it’s best to stay clear of wildlife in general and let them be.

For some people, however, the temptation is too much. Taking place in Buncombe County, North Carolina, the individuals involved found three cubs in a tree and forcefully removed them so that they could take pictures, injuring one of the cubs who had to be taken to a wildlife treatment center. PetaPixel reports that one of the wildlife center representatives described how mother bears would leave cubs in a tree for safekeeping and later retrieve them. When they arrived to assess the situation, two of the cubs were gone and a third remained which is the one they took in for care.

You can watch a clip on YouTube aired by ABC 13 News showing the group taking the cubs out of the tree. Of course, implicit in all of this is not only the danger to the bear cubs but also the people involved. It’s not hard to imagine the tragedy that could have unfolded had the mother returned while this group was around.

Any thoughts that you might have on the stupidity that overtakes some of us when taking a selfie are welcome in the comments below.

We have some other news for you to read at this link right here.

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About Author

Kehl is our staff photography news writer since 2017 and has over a decade of experience in online media and publishing and you can get to know him better here and follow him on Insta.

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