There is a guy in my area that runs a wolf refuge and therefore has a zoo license. Local police took possession of an illegally owned black bear cub and came to him because it was too domesticated to release and they couldn’t find a zoo that would take it. He refused but then relented because the next option was euthanasia. Now his wolf sanctuary has a black bear that he raised by hand and does “wrestling” shows with. He and the bear pretend to wrestle in a bunch of different poses. The bear could snap him like a twig, but is clearly very affectionate towards him.
There is a guy in my area that runs a wolf refuge and therefore has a zoo license. Local police took possession of an illegally owned black bear cub and came to him because it was too domesticated to release and they couldn’t find a zoo that would take it. He refused but then relented because the next option was euthanasia. Now his wolf sanctuary has a black bear that he raised by hand and does “wrestling” shows with. He and the bear pretend to wrestle in a bunch of different poses. The bear could snap him like a twig, but is clearly very affectionate towards him.
https://bigrunwolfranch.org/