![\"Detroit](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/fojlbj0oslouu3kj.jpg\")
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DETROIT (FOX 2) – The mascot community will sleep a little easier Monday night, knowing one of their own is safe. If you don’t know the name \u2018Friendly the Bear,\u2019 you will after this story.<\/p>\n
Big picture view:<\/p>\n
He was stolen by a heartless thief in Detroit, who ended up just dumping him. But \u2018Friendly the Bear\u2019 was resilient.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We found Friendly was sort of discarded in someone’s garbage, but that’s not to say he hasn’t become a treasure for us,” said co-owner Alex Wright.<\/p>\n
Earning the name “Dumpster Bear” and the title of Detroit City Football Club’s mascot, Friendly disappeared after being stolen from a car near downtown Detroit Saturday morning.<\/p>\n
“We are currently working on some leads,” said Detroit Police Officer Jalon Nelson.<\/p>\n
The mascot community was outraged. The Lions’ Roary demanded, “Give me back my son,” while Pistons mascot Hooper called to “Free Friendly,” putting their faith in Detroit police.<\/p>\n
“We have a great closure rate in all categories, so we do intend to close this case as well,” Nelson said.<\/p>\n
Just hours after an interview with Nelson on Monday, someone spotted Friendly dumped in Detroit. Tragedy turned to triumph as he returned. He’s already back on the soccer field. The safe return may even be a good omen for Team USA.<\/p>\n
“Luckily, we live in the kind of town where if we lose a polar bear, you find it within 24 hours,” said Wright. “If it’s any indication, I think that bodes really well for Team USA.”<\/p>\n
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What’s next:<\/p>\n
The team is glad to have him back Monday night. He’s a little dirtier than normal, but otherwise in good shape. It’s unclear whether Detroit police will pursue charges against anyone involved.<\/p>\n
Watch FOX 2 Detroit LIVE: Crime and Public Safety<\/a>Detroit<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DETROIT (FOX 2) – The mascot community will sleep a little easier Monday night, knowing one of their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":920097,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[11242,146,7,5264,88,800,15004],"class_list":["post-920096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-crime-publicsafety","tag-detroit","tag-football","tag-mi","tag-news","tag-us","tag-wayne-county"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116757591996760375","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=920096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/920096\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/920097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=920096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=920096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=920096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}