Two men in Ontario are facing heated backlash after taking a lone black bear cub on a 10-hour drive to Windsor and feeding it fast food from Taco Bell.
Executive director of Chatham-Kent’s Pet and Wildlife Rescue Centre Myriam Amstrong said that the duo found the bear in the middle of the road while driving near Cochrane, Ontario.
The men decided to put the bear in the back of their vehicle, drove it to Windsor, and stopped to feed it tacos from Taco Bell on the way.
“We actually took the bear from the back of their van and they were pretty pleased that they brought the bear down here and that they were feeding him Taco Bell,” Amstrong said.
That poor baby. And if its mother was looking for him? I fucking hate people
— some lady (@ClaireVicky2) September 4, 2024
The rescue centre took the bear in over the Labour Day weekend and transferred the cub to a bear rescue organization in Huntsville on Sunday.
Although Amstrong says the rescue team did not identify any obvious injuries on the four-month-old bear, the cub was “lethargic” and “stressed” after being in a vehicle for 10 hours.
Poor baby bear. This is animal cruelty. I hope he will be ok.
— mary runde (@rundem) September 4, 2024
“We’re assuming the bear was likely hit on the road at some point. It wasn’t hurt on the surface, like we couldn’t see any obvious injuries,” she said. “He was just a little bit off. So we just made sure to give him lots of space and a dark place to decompress.”
Leave it alone, in the woods where it belongs.
— Lesley S. (@lsedd) September 5, 2024
As expected, reactions to the news ranged from concern for the cub to demands for the two men to face consequences for their actions.
We want the names of the two ignorant idiots who did this.
— Angela P.Hernandez (@AngelaPaolaH) September 5, 2024
On their Facebook page, the organization emphasized that help for injured wildlife should always be handled by local rescue teams to avoid unnecessary stress on the animals and to prevent the transferring of diseases to other animal populations.
wtf. wtf. wtf. Sometimes I truly loathe people
— dextweets (@dextweets1) September 4, 2024
“There [are] always dangers when relocating wildlife. You can be transferring different diseases to a new population. So, always try and find somebody locally,” she said.
“You can always call the shelters or the police or anybody who has some authority that can connect you to the right people.”