It was a pitiful scene: a bear cub trapped in a tree as dozens of people watched below. I was one of those people for a short while on Thursday. After all, it's not every day that you see a bear up a tree in the middle of a metropolitan area -- as was the case in downtown Asheville.
No one, particularly the authorities seemed too worried about the animal's safety.
Police seemed clueless. When I asked one officer what the plan was for rescuing the cub, he said in a patronizing tone -- "we've got it covered." Apparently not. The bear spent at least five hours up the tree and I assume it eventually came down when the sun went down. In fact, after speaking to the officer, the bear remained in the tree for at least another four hours.
I was told by one spectator that the guy who would normally "rescue" animals was out of town. In a town the size of Asheville, you'd think there would be at least two people who could be called in to save the cub from civilization.
Posts
