RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Rachel Martin. A man in China's Yunnan Province was collecting wild mushrooms in the mountains near his home in 2015 when he found a little puppy, which he brought home as a pet. The little guy grew and grew, and only then did the man realize that puppy was a bear - an Asian black bear, which is a protected species in China. A neighbor recently tipped off authorities, and the bear has been turned over to animal welfare. The man wasn't fined because the puppy turned 176-pound bear was in good health. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
