Chinese farmer's pet dogs turn out endangered black bears

A Chinese man recently discovered to his horror that the two "pet dogs" he has been raising for the last two years are actually Asian endangered black bears.
Wang Kaiyu, who lives in Maguan County in southwest China's Yunnan Province near the border of Vietnam, bought two pets he believed to be puppies from a Vietnamese man.
"When I was working on my banana farm, a Vietnamese man came up and showed me two good looking pups. He said they are good watchdogs, so I bought them," Wang told state-run Xinhua news agency.
Wang raised the pets carefully, bathing and grooming them every day. But he started to notice that the animals did not behave like typical dogs.

He saw their appetites grow quickly, leading them to eventually catch and eat chickens.
It was not until Wang saw a wildlife protection exhibition hosted by local forestry police that he realised he had been raising two state-protected bears.

"I love them so much. Some people had offered to buy them for a lot of money, but I never agreed," he said.
Wang called the police for help, hoping that the bears could be sent to an appropriate habitat.
On June 30, forestry police contacted the Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center of Yunnan where the two bears were sheltered finally.

Feng Lingui, an officer with the center, said the two Asian black bears, one male and another female, are about three years old and currently in good health.
Asian black bears are listed as a class-II protected species in China.