Asheville apartment residents filmed pulling bear cubs from tree

The people who pulled two black bear cubs from a tree at Berrington Village Apartments turned a routine wildlife sighting into a dangerous encounter with lasting consequences. One cub bit a person during the April 16, 2024, episode on Asheville’s eastern edge, one was later rescued from a nearby retention pond, and the second was never found.

A witness filmed part of the scene and turned the video over to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission after the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Department alerted the agency to reports that people were harassing the cubs. Officials said the two cubs escaped immediately after the encounter. The commission later said it was unknown whether the cubs were orphaned or simply waiting for their mother to return, and biologists stressed that a lone bear cub is rarely truly abandoned because the mother is often nearby foraging and may come back within hours.

One cub was found wet and injured in a retention pond near the apartment complex and taken to Appalachian Wildlife Refuge in Candler. The refuge said the cub entered its care on April 16 and was later introduced to another orphaned cub. In November 2024, state wildlife officials announced that the female cub had been released into a remote Western North Carolina mountain area after rehabilitation. The agency said she was fitted with a tracking collar, ID tag and identifying marks before release, and GPS data showed she was adjusting well to life back in the wild.

The case drew intense public reaction after the commission declined to file charges and closed the investigation. A petition seeking penalties and stronger protections gathered thousands of signatures, reflecting frustration from wildlife advocates who said the encounter showed how quickly human interference can put vulnerable animals at risk. NC Wildlife has said it is illegal in North Carolina to possess or keep a black bear cub.

Officials warned that trying to handle a cub can injure the animal, separate it from its mother, or put people in danger if an adult bear is nearby and defends her young. In Buncombe County, where bear encounters are common enough for repeated public advisories, the Berrington Village case became a stark reminder that a photo opportunity can end with an injured cub, a missing cub and no easy answers for the people left to clean up the damage.