Man adopted a black bear 3 years ago, thinking it was a puppy

Police in rural Yunnan province recently seized a black bear from a villager who had adopted the animal when it was only a cub, apparently believing at the time that it was an abandoned puppy.

Over time, however, the man, surnamed Yang, began to suspect that his little “Han Han” was no pupper. Yet, he said that he couldn’t bear to part with his beloved pet, which he found while out searching for mushrooms in the mountains, according to a ChinaNews report.

For three years, Yang happily raised Han Han until late last month when a neighbor informed police about his illegal pet. Officers arrived at Yang’s home to find the 80 kg creature lying in a small steel cage.

Along with not being dogs, Asian black bears are also a class II protected species in China, meaning that Yang could have faced criminal prosecution for keeping Han Han.

However, police decided to file no charges against the villager, believing that he had not adopted the bear for profit.

This isn’t the first time that a Yunnan villager has somehow confused a bear for a dog. It apparently took two years for one man to finally realize his canines were actually ursines and turn them over to authorities.

Not a dog.

While, back in 2013, one Henan zoo tried, briefly, to pass off a Tibetan mastiff as an “African lion.”

Not a lion.

[Images via ChinaNews]

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