A black bear with only two legs was spotted in the highlands of West Virginia.
Kirk Price, an outdoorsman from West Virginia, told USA TODAY on Monday that his trail camera captured the two-legged mammal in the Appalachian Mountains in southwest West Virginia.
Price, who published videos and photographs of the two-legged bear caught by his trail camera on Instagram, believes it is a male around the age of eight. Price said he initially learned about the bear in 2018, adding that it was “smaller than and has almost doubled in size since originally spotted.”
“At that point, he was already walking around by himself and not a cub,” Price told USA TODAY via email. “A cub usually stays with their mother until close to 2 years old.”
Price stated that, while he has only seen the bear once in person, he and several others have seen it numerous times on trail camera images and recordings over the years.
“He’s very illusive and is rarely spotted in person,” Price informed us. “He lives in the mountains.” Believe it or not, he travels around quite a lot. “He has about a 5-mile radius.”
In a 2022 YouTube video, Price discussed his experience viewing a two-legged bear live and stated that when he got up close to the bear, it had “clean nubs,” leading him to believe it was born that way. Price, who was with his dogs at the time, claimed the bear appeared healthy and fled up the hill after he separated his dogs from the animal.
Those who have seen the bear have not given him a name, and Price explained that they “normally just refer to him as the ‘two-legged bear’.”
The discovery is reminiscent of Pedals, a two-legged bear that was seen several times in New Jersey before being presumed to have died during a hunt in 2016.
‘Wonderful’ bear
While several people on Price’s Instagram post hypothesized that the bear’s lack of front legs was caused by a hunter, Price says he “firmly believes” the bear was born with only two hind legs and that the absence of his front legs is not the result of any external influences.
“I am convinced he was born that way and has conquered all odds. That should be the focus. “This bear is truly amazing,” the outdoorsman said.
Price added that hunters should not be assumed to be the “bad guy” in the scenario. Price stated that, while he kills and eats bears regularly, he is also a “firm believer in conservation” who enjoys seeing them “thrive on the landscape.”
“This particular bear is special, and I would never purposely hunt him,” Price stated.
USA TODAY has contacted the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources for more information on the animal sightings.
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