Alaskan bear cubs found more than 3,600 miles from home in FLORIDA were ‘crammed into a 600-square-foot chain-link enclosure’ by exotic animal smuggler facing 11 charges

Recently, a pair of cubs originally from Alaska were found on a dark street in Florida. The man who “illegally” imported them is facing nearly a dozen charges.

Shae Hensley, 53, housed the Kodiak bears on a property in Baker, which were “crammed into a 10-by-20-foot enclosure.”

Hensley told the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office that he forgot to lock the gate one night, allowing the animals to escape – they are now being held at the Panama City Zoo.

Hensley faces 11 charges for illegally importing the bears without obtaining a permit, failing to report the cubs’ escape and obtaining the animals without proper fencing.

PETA told DailyMail.com that it tipped off conservationists in October, telling them that Hensley had illegally obtained the cubs from a New Jersey zoo.

Michelle Sinnott, director of the PETA Foundation Captive Law Enforcement, said, “If the Florida Fish & Wildlife Commission (FWC) had acted on PETA’s tip in October, these exploited bears would never have escaped in the middle of the night.”

Hensley also received warnings for having improper enclosures for other animals, including foxes, skunks and raccoons.

The bears made headlines this month after Florida police released body camera footage showing two cubs wandering down a dark street at 3:30 a.m.

Authorities assumed the animals were black bears, but an investigation by FWC revealed the cubs’ home was more than 3,600 miles away.

However, a closer look at the size and color revealed that the animals were not native to Florida.

This is evident from an incident report obtained by WEARHensley told FWC that he had licenses for the bears from the time he obtained them in February 2023.

PETA told FWC back in October that Hensley had the help of New York-based zoo owner Larry Wallach, who gave the Florida resident his permit to import the bears.

The bears are believed to have come from the Space Farms Zoo in Sussex, New Jersey.

PETA’s investigation into Hensley revealed that he had several exotic animals, such as two Patagonia guinea pigs, a young kangaroo, several ostriches and a water buffalo.

Wallach was cited by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2022 for housing baby sloths in unapproved locations and failing to provide inspectors with a written veterinary care program.

But Wallach has denied his involvement in the Kodiak bear case.

Hensley’s name is associated with a company called Kodiak Productions and Animal Actors LLC, which was incorporated on February 18, 2023.

The address shows a location littered with animal cages housing birds and other creatures in the backyard.

WEAR reported that the Hensley property is for sale and the site associated with Kodiak Productions and Animal Actors LLC is currently on the market.

Okaloosa County is located in the Florida Panhandle, where black bears live.

Although most people may not know the difference, black bears and Kodiak bears look very different.

Kodiak bears are much larger, weighing up to 1,500 pounds, while black bears weigh up to 600 pounds.

The Alaskan animal is usually brown in color, while black bears can be found with brown, cinnamon and black fur.

The body camera footage begins with two officers getting out of their vehicle to meet a resident who called.

The two cubs were walking around in the middle of the street as officers waved lights on the road.

“They want to eat or something,” the citizen told the officers. “They’re clearly domesticated.”

The footage shows the man petting the cubs – and the animals also tried to jump into the patrol vehicle parked on the side of the road.

“I think they’re brown,” the man said as he fed the cubs.

“They’re not black bears.”

The officers speculated that the cubs could be grizzlies or brown bears.

‘It’s like they’re not afraid of people. They walk right up to people and let you pet them,” an officer told the dispatcher, who responded, “The pranks at 3:30.”