A Trump 2020 sticker found stuck on a wild bear in Asheville, North Carolina was put on there by a person protesting collaring of the bears.
Helping Asheville ears, an organization that helps wild bears, learned of the sticker after a local woman spotted the bear.
On Aug. 4, HAB announced in a press release that the person responsible for the sticker placement had “apologized for their actions and promised not to have any contact with any bears in the future.”
“They stated that they placed the sticker in protest of the unnecessary, excessive tagging and collaring of wild bears who suffer enough through North Carolina’s hunting season,” according to the release.
HAB says no reward was paid because the person who reported the individual responsible “did so because they love the bears.”
“Bears are NOT Billboards,” the post read, in part. The post said it was the second time a bear was found with a political sticker in Asheville in a year.
“Whoever put these political stickers on these bears is cruel and heartless,” said the post. “HAB and our followers hope to stop and expose you.”
The group said the person who put the sticker on the bear promised not to have any contact with any bears in the future.
Jody Williams, a co-founder of Help Asheville bears, said,
“Besides being highly unethical, a colorful sticker also compromises the bear’s natural camouflage in its environment and encourages other people to try to get close to bears, which put their lives at risk when other less bear friendly people encounter it.”
Help Asheville Bears was formed last August when the founders realized that a bear they knew as Peaches, a mother with three cubs, was not the only bear in the Asheville area missing a limb.
Help Asheville Bears has confirmed 18 individual bears each missing a limb within a 90-mile radius of Asheville that independent veterinary and wildlife experts have concluded are the result of leg-hold trap and snare escapes. Nowhere else on Earth has there ever been this many bears with amputations from injuries in such a small area.
Help Asheville Bears continues to request that the public provide any information it has regarding the person/s responsible for these excruciatingly painful, debilitating, amputation injuries to our beloved black bears.
