A black bear cub appearing in the terrace of a community in Changchun, Northeast China's Jilin Province was sent to a local zoo after being rescued, local media reported on Sunday.

A resident named Zhan Jian found a black animal huddling up on terrace outside his house on Friday night, and was shocked to see it was a bear.

Zhang called police and firefighters fearing that the bear would be captured and killed by someone with bad intention.

The police at first thought the call was a hoax and asked Zhang to make sure that it was a bear.

The bear ran in panic when seeing people gathering around and climbed over a three-storey-high wall where it stayed for more than two hours.

It took rescuers from many institutions, including the public security bureau, fire station and Changchun Zoological and Botanical Park to capture the bear safely.

The bear, which was found to be less than 6 months old, has been sent to the zoo for further check. Local police are investigating where the bear came from as no one has come to claim it since the incident.  

Black bear is a second-class protected species in China, said Liu Haibo, a lawyer from Jixiang Law Firm, adding that according to the Criminal Law, illegal purchasing, transporting or selling of national protected animals would lead up to a five-year imprisonment and fine.

New Express