22/06/2026
A late-night scroll. A viral video. A second chance for a bear cub.
What appeared to be a harmless Facebook clip of an Asiatic black bear cub being bottle-fed led to a wildlife rescue in
After the video reached Wildlife Trust of India’s cyber analyst through a concerned citizen earlier this month, the Arunachal Pradesh Forest Department traced the cub to a village in Kamle district, where a local resident had been caring for it after finding it alone on his farm nearly a month earlier. Hoping its mother would return, he waited, but when she never did, he brought the cub home.
Sadly, this is a common fate for the species; adult Asiatic Black bears are still heavily hunted across their range and traded for their paws, furs, gallbladders and meat, a trade that frequently leaves behind vulnerable, suckling cubs unable to survive on their own.
Though driven by compassion, keeping wild animals is prohibited under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. When the rescue team led by Likha Tado, Deputy Range Forest Officer, under the direction of DFO Tilling Taker, reached the village, the resident cooperated fully. Estimated to be 2–3 months old, the cub was safely handed over for transfer to the Centre for Bear Rehabilitation and Conservation (CBRC).
Following a health assessment by Dr. Bamin Rilung, WTI’s Dr. Panjit Basumatary travelled more than 200 km to facilitate the transfer. At CBRC, jointly managed by WTI, ArunForests Arunachal Pradesh and IFAW , the cub will receive veterinary care and rehabilitation with the goal of returning to the wild.
Social media can be a dark place, often serving as a digital marketplace for illegal wildlife trade and animal exploitation. But when used responsibly, these same platforms can double as a powerful space for survival.
Through regular, vigilant monitoring of social media, we can turn a space of doomscrolling into an early warning system.
Every tag, report, and shared post has the power to disrupt the dark corners of the internet and save a wild animal’s future.
