https://www.al.com/news/2024/02/man-who-brought-alaskan-kodiak-bears-to-florida-facing-numerous-charges-cubs-safe-at-zoo.html?fbclid=IwAR0o1DoGd4v5uY62f5M8J35b_-GKOltnssV6Pp6JTD_nR4pQmnL2XfIQiv0
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While two Kodiak bear cubs who were found wandering a Florida highway in December are now safe inside the Panama City Zoo, the same cannot be said for the man who brought the cubs to the Florida Panhandle.
Shae Allen Hensley of Baker, Fla., is facing nearly a dozen charges from the Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission (FWC), according to WEAR in Pensacola.
Among the charges: unlawfully importing the two Kodiak bears without obtaining a permit; failing to report the cubs’ escape; and obtaining the animals without the proper enclosure.
He was also issued warnings for having improper enclosures for other animals, including foxes, skunks and raccoons.
The two Kodiak cubs were found wandering along Old River Road in the unincorporated community of Baker in the early morning hours of Dec. 5, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.
Investigation led to what the sheriff’s office described as an “inadequate” enclosure belonging to a “self-proclaimed bear trainer,” later identified as Hensley.
According to an incident report obtained by the outlet, Hensley claimed he had the necessary permits when he obtained the two Kodiaks in February of last year. But the FWC said his license was expired and he didn’t submit an application to import the bears until a month later. That application still hasn’t been approved.
The facility in which he housed the bears was never inspected, as required by law. The report says the enclosure in which the bears were kept was nothing more than chain link fence with a wire-mesh roof.
Hensley said the bear cubs escaped because he forgot to secure the gate, according to the report.
Additionally, Hensley claims he was training the bears for Larry Wallach, a New York resident known in the exotic animal trade and the subject of a national Humane Society investigation which revealed mistreatment of animals in his care. Wallach has denied the allegations.
The FWC noted Wallach also does not have a valid license to import or own bears in Florida. WEAR also reported Hensley’s property is listed for sale.
The two Kodiak cubs, meanwhile, are residing at ZooWorld in Panama City Beach. It wasn’t immediately known if that will become the cubs’ permanent home.
Exposing the Big Game 
Just awful. I hope they can one day be returned to their home. What kind of selfish person does something like this. And in the animal animal trafficking trade and ‘training’ these poor bears in who know what way.
He deserves the firing squad!
It takes a special kind of moron to do this…they are larger than grizzlies, taller and heavier. Hope they can be returned to the wild back to Alaska eventually.