The villagers eat this "foreigner" brutally, but the truth is heartbreaking
An endangered bear with a mysterious illness has been found and rescued more than two months after footage of the alien animal went viral
An endangered bear with an unknown condition has been discovered and rescued more than two months after footage of an "alien" animal went viral on the internet.
"The bear is in a good and safe place," Nickson Robi of the Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) told The Dodo. “She ate the food and drank the water we gave her. But she's still hairless and sick, and we need to find out what that disease is."
A group of plantation workers near the village of Sibu in Borneo initially spotted the "strange" animal in January. Unsure of what it was, the staff allegedly beat her with sticks and pushed her back into the woods.
A video showing the animal fleeing its attackers has been viewed nearly 6 million times online.
Despite rampant speculation on Malaysian social media that the animal was of alien origin, police felt it was a sick bear. The species is protected in Borneo, Robi explained, "so we needed to do something to save her and get her medical attention."
A team from the SFC had been searching for the bear since January, but it was finally spotted on Wednesday in another adjacent plantation, the Borneo Post reports.
After all she's been through, it's no surprise that the sick bear is scared and violent.
Now she is getting the help she needs.
“I just took the bear to our wildlife center here,” Robi said. “The vet there will check everything to find out what medicine the bear should be given. We hope the bear recovers quickly so we can return her to the wild.”
