Moment group of North Carolina friends rip three terrified bear cubs out of tree to pose for selfies

A group of six North Carolina fools were caught on camera tearing bear cubs out of a tree to take selfies, causing at least one of the cubs to be taken to a rehabilitation center.

Six people in Buncombe County pulled the three bear cubs out of a tree near Berrington Village Apartments on Tuesday.

Video obtained by WLOS shows the group carelessly grabbing the cubs out of the tree to pose for photos with them.

Ashley Hobbs, a North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission special projects biologist, was called to the scene.

'We did see the video in response to the bear being left alone,' Hobbs told the local news outlet. 'We do think that the bear probably had a pretty traumatic experience.' 

The group worked together to pull the first cub out of the tree, despite its resistance to be disturbed.

After capturing the first cub, one of the women appears giddy, jumping up and down while holding the bear and getting ready to take photos with it. 

The group continued to attempt to drag the other two cubs, while one of the women dropped the cub as she was passing it to another person.

The terrified cub fled from the group, running along the fence to get back to its siblings. 

'An apartment complex in the Fairview area that officer did ask me to assist him in response to that, so I did get on site and I saw the cub,' Hobbs said.

Hobbs said when she arrived they found one cub described as being very wet, cold and alone for quite some time. 

FOX Carolina reported it is illegal for people to disturb bear dens in North Carolina, though it is unclear if anyone from the video could face charges.

'We did follow up with the people who pulled the bear out of the tree,' Hobbs said.

'We did confront them on site that day and let them know how irresponsible and potentially deadly it could be for that cub to be separated from its mom, especially ripped out of a tree like that.' 

'It is frustrating to see people be that irresponsible around wildlife because it is a blessing that we get to live in the mountains around these creatures,' she said.

The cub found at the scene was taken to a rehabilitation center, but wildlife officials are unsure if the other cubs made it back to their mother.

Jody Williams, founder of Help Asheville Bears, slammed the group for their selfish actions of disturbing the cubs and endangering both their own lives and the cubs.

'All for a selfie, all for a selfie,' he said. 'It's just ignorance, total selfishness, this is not what we talk about when we talk about coexisting.'