Animal Rights Group Furious After Finding Pro-Trump Message on Bear's Tracking Collar
An animal rights organization is speaking out against what it sees as a horrible form of animal cruelty — putting a sticker expressing support for President Donald Trump on a bear’s collar.
Help Asheville Bears, a North Carolina-based animal rights group, is offering a $5,000 reward to find the party responsible for putting a “Trump 2020” sticker on a black bear’s tracking collar.
In a Facebook post late last month, HAB condemned the placing of the sticker as a “cruel and heartless” act.
“HAB is offering a $5,000 reward for information on the person(s) responsible for putting this political sticker on this beautiful bear who has already been trapped, tranquilized, and collared unnecessarily,” the post read.
The bear had not, in fact, been “collared unnecessarily,” as the collars were likely being used in the North Carolina Urban/Suburban Bear Study.
The study is being conducted by N.C. State University in conjunction with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission to “gather data in order to inform future bear management decisions,” The Citizen-Times in Asheville reported in May 2019.
Regardless, HAB seems to think that the collars are needless, and that the “Trump 2020” sticker just made things worse.
“Whoever put these political stickers on these bears is cruel and heartless. HAB and our followers hope to stop and expose you,” the post read.
“This is now the second bear this happened to, which can only mean either someone in the study is doing this or it is someone in the public. Either way, a full investigation needs to be done.”
The person who sent HAB the pictures of the bear took things a step further, going as far as to suggest that the placing of the sticker is even more cruel than the use of the collars themselves.
“I was able to find out that the bears were collared by the North Carolina Urban/Suburban Bear Study and on May 12, 2019, I spoke with a member of this organization who assured me the bears were safe and that the collars were used to improve bear safety through research,” the resident said, according to HAB’s post. “The group sounded committed to protecting our Urban bears and promoting their health and well being.
“That is why I was shocked to see this on the bear’s collar today. I believe this is an abhorrent practice. These bears are already suffering enough with the heavy collars and metal ear mutilations. But to put a political sticker on the collar? No words can describe my anger and sadness.”
The resident seems to think that a “Trump 2020” sticker is somehow making the bear’s suffering even worse.
Perhaps the prankster should have first asked the bear which candidate it was planning on voting for in November.
All kidding aside, using animals as political billboards is a practice neither political party should condone.
That being said, to call this act “cruel and heartless” is a bit hyperbolic.
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