Man Tries To Pawn Off Bear Cubs At Gas Station In California

A California man was busted by the Department of Fish and Game in Northern California after he attempted to pawn off two bear cubs at a gas station.

ABC Local reports that the man, Chris Puett, was showing the cubs off to people at a gas station in North San Juan, offering them for sale, but when game wardens arrived, he denied trying to sell the cubs. Officials are reporting he told them he was trying to give the cubs to a “good home.”

So, how did Mr. Puett come by the two cubs, who weighed 13 and 11 pounds? He alleges that he shot the cubs’ mother when she charged him on his property, but officials have been unable to confirm his story, since he has failed to produce the carcass of a bigger bear. Investigators are still working to track down the body of mama bear to confirm Chris’s story.

Fox40 reports that Patrick Foy who works with the Department of fish and Game, stated:

“I’ve never seen anything like this in the State of California.”

The cubs, one female and one male, are currently being cared for at Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care, which is the only facility in California that is currently licensed to rehabilitate bears and turn them back to the wild, according to ABC News. The cubs are between four and five months old and are reportedly in, “good, healthy condition.”

Fox40 notes that more than two dozen bear cubs around the state of California have gone through this process, and that only three cubs so far have not survived the process. They should be released to a den this winter.

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