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Asiatic Black Bear Relocated After Raiding Beehives 14 Times

Published : Jul 3, 2026 12:59 PM

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An Asiatic black bear that repeatedly raided apiaries to steal honey over several years has finally been moved to a protected facility.

The Korea National Park Service announced that it captured the bear on June 16, which had been causing persistent damage to local beekeeping farms, and transferred it to an ecological learning center.

The captured bear is a female born in Korea in 2011. Between 2018 and last year, it broke into apiaries 14 times to consume honey.

Although the bear was relocated to areas far from human settlements twice, in 2018 and 2020, it continued to return to the vicinity of villages to target beekeeping farms.

The Korea National Park Service explained, "We determined that the individual had lost its wild instincts, so we retrieved it to prevent conflicts with humans."

(Video courtesy of Korea National Park Service)