Malaysian singer mistakenly picks up bear cub thinking it a dog, gets arrested

Guwahati: Malaysian singer Zarith Sofia Yasin is accused of illegally keeping a sun bear cub as her pet without any permission of the Wildlife and National Parks Department. The department arrested the singer last week on the same charge. But the amazing fact is that the singer was not even aware that the pet she is having with her is a bear cub. As stated by her, she thought is to be a dog.

Notably, she had rescued the cub in a deserted state from the roadside and thought of keeping it as a pet. Zarith states, "It was night time when I found the bear cub in a weakened state by the side of the road - and I thought it was dog."

Revealing more on the incident of picking of the bear cub, she says that the cub was being picked two weeks ago which was in a "weakened state." It was being picked near Bukit Ampang which is a site of tourist attraction in Malaysia. She had even lovingly named the bear as Bruno.

The Malaysian singer further says that she is aware of the law of illegal possession of wild animals but what she did was unintentional and beyond her imagination. She did not mean to disobey the regulations. She also says that after nursing the cub, she had plans of handing it over to Zoo Negara. She did not even keep it caged at her home.

She also adds, "I know the bear cannot be reared, it can't be kept as a pet. I only wanted to save the bear, I had no intention of exploiting it. It is true that I went home for Hari Raya - but I didn't let him starve, I left him some food."

The incident of the singer keeping a bear at home came into light when a person filmed the bear while it was sticking its head out of the window. The video got uploaded online and once it became viral on social media the concerned department came to notice it.

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