A woman's encounter with Chipi went viral, leading park officials to take action. Photo / Twitter.com
A woman's encounter with Chipi went viral, leading park officials to take action. Photo / Twitter.com
A Mexican black bear which was recorded in a viral video approaching a young walker has been caught and castrated over fears it was becoming too familiar with park visitors.
The woman who was able to survive the bear encounter and escape with a selfie, but for the 'friendly' blackbear the encounter was not so harmless.
There are plans to relocate the animal to a different state where it will have less human contact, reports the BBC.
This disruptive move to an unfamiliar habitat could prove fatal to the bear. However experts have suggested that video showed that the animals were becoming used to human contact, and possibly being fed by humans.
The young, male black bear, weighing 96kg was tracked down and caught in the Chipinque Ecological park. While the young woman was able to escape with a picture, the young bear would only get larger and – experts warn – the next visitor who receives a "bear hug" might not survive.
The park's officials have recorded many more encounters between visitors and the bear.
One person is killed every year by black bears every year, Asiatic Black Bear specialist Dave Garshelis told ABC.
Locals who had come to call the overly familiar bear "Chipi", an unofficial mascot for the Chipinque park. It was not unusual for Chipi to turn up in people's gardens and near homes.
The Mexican environment agency (Profepa) found him asleep in the backyard of a house in nearby Monterrey.
It was given a health check by vets from the University of Nuevo Leon, who also fitted it with a tracking radio collar to keep tabs on the bear.
The decision to castrate Chipi was unusual, and is now being investigated by Profepa.
The agency released a statement which says that this drastic move was taken by the university veterinarians on the order of Profepa's Matin Vargas, the director general for wildlife control.
The statement translated by the BBC justifies the move, saying it will make Chipi less territorial and less prone to fights with bears in his new home in the Sierra de Nido mountains, Chihuahua state.
This decision to castrate the bear has been condemned by Nuevo León state residents. However the biggest backlash has been against visitors who are now shown to have been feeding the bear.
The surprise video encounter with Chipi which led to his capture and emasculation was due to visitors and guides who had been bribing the bear with food and taking selfies.
