Black Bear Sighting Shuts Down Disney World
Black bear spotted at iconic U.S. amusement park Disney World
One female appears in the Magic Kingdom Park area
Disney World, a leading amusement park in the United States, was thrown into disarray when a black bear was spotted.
According to reports from The Wall Street Journal, on the 18th, a female black bear was sighted in the Magic Kingdom Park area at Disney World in Florida.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) captured the bear near a tree in the park at around 2:45 p.m. local time.
Disney World temporarily shut down 12 attractions in the affected area. There were no injuries reported during the capture of the bear.
The captured bear will reportedly be relocated to the Ocala National Forest or a nearby area in Florida.
The FWC explained that “bears are typically active during the fall as they look for food to build up fat for winter.” The agency suggests that the bear likely ventured into the area for food. Adult bears reportedly need to consume around 20,000 calories in the fall, nearly ten times the daily recommended caloric intake of 2,700 for adult males.
Attention also turns to a recent incident in South Korea, where multiple bears escaped from farms, leading to controversies. A farm in Ulsan lost three moon bears, and the farm owners, a couple in their 60s, were found dead. There have been recurrent escapes from a bear farm in Yongin, where 12 moon bears have escaped since 2006. In particular, in April 2012, a bear that had escaped bit a hiker’s leg, causing injury.
The owner of the Yongin farm, a 70-year-old identified as “A,” was arrested in July 2021 for falsely reporting the number of escaped bears and illegally slaughtering them. He has since been released and is managing the farm, which houses 13 moon bears. The farm also illegally bred six bears; five were euthanized, while one was confiscated and placed in a zoo.
The story takes on an added layer of complexity as it coincides with controversies about bear farming both within the United States and abroad.
By. Kwon Mi Sung (misung@wikitree.co.kr)
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