An nameless neurological condition is sickening and often killing young inglorious bears in California and Nevada . The illness also seems to make the bears fearless of masses . Though the experimental condition does n’t appear to be badly harm the bear population at large , scientists and wildlife officials are still trying to figure out its case .
According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife , the first reports of this condition date back to 2014 , when official in Nevada take hold of wind of sick bears near Lake Tahoe . There have been sporadic reports since , but in the retiring 12 month alone , at least four case have been document in California .
Symptoms of the shape let in languor , low exercising weight , oral sex tremors , and a subtle head tilt , along with a gumption of bravery around humans that wildlife officials described as “ dog - like . ” In a case documented on video in 2019 , a greenhorn later obtain to have the conditionapproacheda snowboarder with no hesitation , seem to snuggle up next to him . In another report last autumn , a young bear that had been give by peopleclimbed into an opened railway car trunkwith no prompting .
A black bearPhoto: Robert F. Bukaty (AP)
Upon further examen , these and other bears were found to have encephalitis , or a swelling of the brain . deplorably , most bears with the condition have become flat or were euthanized due to their worsening wellness , and some that survived are ineffective to return to the state of nature .
“ Any meter a wild animal add up into our tending , the best - possible outcome is a release back to the wild , ” say CDFW wildlife vet Brandon Munk in astatementlast week . “ That ’s just not possible for these neurologically impair bears . At this point , we do n’t screw what stimulate the encephalitis so we do n’t know what , if any , health risk these bear might place to other animals . ”
Encephalitis can be due to many dissimilar things , include viral infection . But though scientists havefoundfive antecedently undocumented species of viruses in these bear , it ’s not yet clear-cut whether any of them are join to the condition . It ’s also not known whether this condition or its cause could be a danger to man or other animals as well .
Despite these tragical cases , the black bear population in the areas where these cases have been found still seems to be healthy . But for now , the mystery story remains unresolved . Officialscontinueto discourage that mass should n’t encourage bear to hang around them , no matter how friendly they may seem . That ’s in the main for the bears ’ benefit , since these encounter are often more severe for them than us .
AnimalsApex predatorsBearEthologyScavengers
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