'Let me have my little girl back!' Man begs wildlife officials to return the bear cub he saved after it was abandoned by its mother

ARKANSAS -- An Arkansas man who raised an abandoned bear cub for six months until wildlife officials confiscated the animal says he wants his ‘little girl’ back.

Robert Baysinger chokes up with tears when he describes finding the cub he named Savannah and gets even more emotional when he recalls the day he came home to find her gone.

The Marshall man insists he has what it takes to properly raise the animal, but Arkansas Game and Fish maintains that wild animals must be cared for by professionals and confiscated Savannah on Monday.

‘She's part of my family. It's no different from raising a little kid. She depends on you,’ Baysinger told KARK.

Baysinger was doing a prescribed burn on his land in March when he discovered the bear crying and along with singed fur.

‘I picked it up. It couldn't walk,’ he said.

He kept watch over the little cub for a couple of days, but when its mother never returned, Baysinger decided to take her in.

For six months, Baysinger watched the bear grow and became attached to Savannah like a human child.

‘I got an old '86 Toyota pickup, she gets in there like a dog and she hangs her head out the window like a little Yorkie and goes wherever I go when I'm not doing nothing,’ Baysinger said as he fought back tears.

Early this week, Baysinger left home and when he returned Savannah was gone. All that was left was a ticket taped to his door from Arkansas Game and Fish.

Baysinger is devasted.

‘She's crying,’ he said. ‘They came in there with total strangers. And took her by force and put her in a strange place that she's not used to. She's crying.‘

Officials fear that Baysinger is putting himself and the animal in danger.

‘This is not only about his safety but the bear's safety as well,’ said Game and Fish spokesman Steve ‘Wildman’ Wilson. ‘We all love bears. We all love wildlife. They're cute and they're cuddly but it's called wildlife for a reason.’

Needless to say, Baysinger disagrees and says the classroom of life has taught him all he needs to know.

‘I've been in the woods all my life,’ he said. ‘68 years. Even though I don't have a certificate hanging on my wall I know more about it than the people who has her right now.’

Baysinger is now begging to have Savannah returned.

‘I'm asking game and fish to please let me have my little girl back.’ 

(Daily Mail - Sept 11, 2013)