Family Thinks They Adopted A Rare Dog, 2 Years Later They Realize It’s Not A ‘Dog’ At All

Sun Yun first decided to break the chains of monotony with a family vacation in 2016. Su Yun and her kin packed and prepared for months, ready to see a bit more of their home country, China.

While on their trip, they ran into a street vendor with an interesting collection of merchandise: dogs. Sun Yun’s kids immediately fell in love with one of his pooches, a sweet, adorable, fluffy black puppy. The vendor had high praise for the dog.

The vendor told them it was a Tibetan mastiff, an intelligent and loyal dog you couldn’t easily get your hands on. This was a fascinating development for Sun Yun — she couldn’t pass on a dog like this, could she?

Su Yun knew her kids were aching for a pet, and she couldn’t say no to that black, furry face. She returned home to Kunming with a new family member — they named the puffball Little Black — and they couldn’t have been happier. But some problems were about to begin.

Little Black wasn’t going to stay little for long, as the Tibetan mastiff is one of the world’s largest and rarest dog breeds. Those big boys can weigh up to a whopping 170 pounds. Woof. This was apparent in Sun Yun’s smaller home.

Just as the enigmatic man from the street warned Su Yun, Little Black grew fast. He roamed their small home, gobbling whatever he could get his paws on, to the point where something seemed wrong. All Little Black did was eat.

Su Yun said he would eat “a box of fruits and two buckets of noodles every day.” And after just a year of feeding Little Black, Su Yun noticed a massive dent in her bank account.

The family was on edge with how fast Little Black was growing, and the situation became more dire once their not-so-little pup turned two years old and weighed a mind-boggling 250 pounds! Sun Yun began to doubt this was a mastiff.

She was unsure of what four-legged creature she brought into their home… until she witnessed Little Black standing on his hind legs in the middle of the kitchen. Her stomach sank. It was at that moment that she realized the truth she’d been denying.

Su Yun tried to ignore the enormous teeth, the rounded ears, the razor-sharp claws, but in that moment she fully knew Little Black was, in fact, a bear. “Exciting” as this was, it put the family’s life in a lot of danger.

She called the police, explaining her bizarre predicament as best as she could. “The more he grew, the more like a bear he looked,” said Su Yun. “I am a little scared of bears.” Experts came over to evaluate her new theory.

It wasn’t long before police officers and wildlife experts from the Forest Public Security Bureau showed up to check out Little Black. The furry guy turned out to be an Asiatic black bear, a species that is currently considered endangered.

Sadly, in many Asian countries, “they’re illegally traded and milked for their bile,” according to National Geographic. The yellow liquid is sold with false claims it can treat everything from cancer to a hangover. Authorities rushed over.

When official’s arrived at Su Yun’s home to fetch Little Black, they were shocked at his size, as he stood on his hind legs to be about a meter tall. Understandably, Little Black was sedated prior to transportation, just in case he acted out in fear.

Little Black was taken to the Yunnan Wildlife Rescue Centre, where he’d likely spend the rest of his days. He’d been through a lot, arguably more than Su Yun and her family (who were clearly oblivious). Wild animals are just that, wild, and should never be kept as pets.

Su Yun escaped jail time for illegally housing an endangered, not to mention dangerous, wild animal. It was likely due to her cooperation with the police, and the fact that she seemed so genuinely unaware, but Lynn Cuny, founder and president of San Antonio’s Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation, wasn’t buying it.

“You never think you’re hearing a dog or a puppy when you hear a bear,” Lynn said. “My first reaction to this is that there’s something more going on here than just an honest mistake. This should never happen.” Too harsh? Maybe not.

According to Lynn, it’s typically easy to tell the difference between young wild animals and domesticated pets. In the presence of humans in foreign environments, wild animals will be more frightened and anxious than domesticated animals.

Lynn Cuny believes that the issue of wild animals being removed from their homes circles back to how society treats, views, and, in more vile cases, abuses animals. “If this happened to a person, everybody would be up in arms,” Lynn exclaimed. Well, she’s not wrong.

Though what happened with Little Black was unsettling, tragic even, this kind of mixup happens more than you’d think.