An outdoorsman has captured footage of a two-legged bear walking around on its hind legs in West Virginia.
The unusual sight was captured by Kirk Price on September 12 who was already aware of the bear having encountered it two years ago.
Price tells USA Today that he believes the bear is an approximately eight years old and was born without front legs.
“He’s very elusive and is rarely spotted in person,” Price says of the bear that has “almost doubled in size” since first encountering it.
“At that point, he was already walking around by himself and was not a cub,” Price tells USA Today. “A cub usually stays with their mother until close to two years old.”
Price says the two-legged bear lives in the mountains of West Virginia and has a five-mile range. The outdoorsman has only seen the bear in person once and noticed the animal has “clean nubs,” which led him to believe he was born that way and not a victim of an accident or hunter.
Price explained in a video two years ago that he “couldn’t believe” what he saw after his dogs discovered the bear running around on its hind legs.
“There is a bear on its hind legs running around like a Sasquatch-looking thing,” Price said. “I mean it was bizarre.”
People in the comments on Price’s Instagram video were sympathetic to the bear. “He should honestly be in a sanctuary. Can’t be easy to survive like this and he’s very thin,” writes @chomp.cronch.
However, Price disagrees and says that the bear appears healthy and is one of nature’s survivors.
“I firmly believe he was born that way and has overcome all odds. That’s what the focus should be on. This bear is truly amazing,” he tells USA Today.
Price is a hunter who regularly kills bears and eats them but says he would never harm the two-legged bear, adding that he is a “firm believer in conservation” and loves seeing them “thrive on the landscape.”
“This particular bear is special, and I would never purposely hunt him,” Price adds.