This is one of those stories that seems impossible to believe, but you must take into account that the dogs that live in Latin America are not similar to the big dogs that can be seen in China. However, mistaking them for bears? How can it make sense?
First you need a bit of context. A few years ago, China had incredible economic growth. Of course it was not for the entire nation with more than a billion people, but thousands of Chinese did see their wealth grow overnight. It was then that they began to buy the most luxurious cars, the largest houses and the most expensive clothes.
That’s where the Tibetan mastiff, considered the most expensive dog in the world, comes into play. If people can buy the rarest and most expensive things, the Tibetan has become a symbol of the truly rich. Far removed from the idea that adopting is better than buying, the wealthy Chinese were desperate to get these mastiffs as pets.
These incredible creatures can weigh 80 kilos, measure more than a meter and their price starts at three thousand dollars, the most expensive being sold in China for 1.2 million dollars.
With this explanation, it is a little more believable that a person confused a Tibetan mastiff puppy with an Asian black bear cub, a creature that is in danger and is highly valued on the black market.
For a while, Su Yun lovingly raised the bear thinking it was a dog, but when it started growing faster than normal and realizing he ate a box of fruit and two buckets of Chinese noodles a day, she realized that maybe it wasn’t a dog.
At the time of calling the authorities, the bear weighed 113 kilograms. He was quite friendly and nervous if his owner walked away from him, however, everyone knew that in a short time the bear would not be able to continue living in those conditions, so he was transported to a shelter where they would help him reintegrate with his kind.
Su Yun did not receive a very serious punishment, because he did not know that it was a bear and as soon as it happened he reported it to the authority and cooperated with it. Plus this isn’t the first time it’s happened, at least one other man in China went viral after he adopted what he thought was an abandoned Tibetan mastiff and it turned out to be another Asiatic black bear.
Raising a pet is a responsibility that we must assume from the beginning: knowing where our furry friend has come from and knowing that it can really live with us is something that we have to find out before taking it home, otherwise we can cause a little animal a lot sadness. And in rare cases like this, we can even endanger a species. Let’s act with conscience!