Bears Act Too Friendly Due To Fatal Illness

This disease turns bears into dogs – and permanently cripples them.

Following a number of recent incidents with bears in California’s Tahoe Basin, reported to have acted strangely, seemingly unafraid of humans, and eager to do things that don’t look like bears, the State Department of Fisheries and Wildlife posted a blog on the sad reason for the behavior: encephalitis.

“Necropsies on the afflicted bears confirmed encephalitis, but the root cause of the disease remains a mystery,” the post says, attributing the bizarre behavior of various bears to the condition of swelling in the brain, which manifests itself from an unknown origin – although, in the process of research, scientists discovered five new viruses that could be to blame.

“To complicate matters for those responsible for wildlife, neurologically dull bears appear friendly to the public. Not afraid of people, they can come into contact – and conflict – with humans more often, ”the message continues.

In the past 12 months, California authorities have captured three bears with encephalitis, most recently a critically deficient female at Pollock Pines. The bear, who should have weighed around 80 pounds but only pointed at 21, was found covered in ticks, acting confused, jumping into car trunks and accepting human attention, the Sacramento Bee reported.

“Someone opened the trunk and he got in the trunk and that’s not normal behavior. And that must be a red flag, right? This must be a wake-up call that something is wrong, ”Dr. Brandon Munk commented to CBS Sacramento.

It could also be dangerous to humans, Munk said.

“Next thing you know, maybe I’ll just hand feed it and see if it takes me.” You know these are situations where you get much closer to your potential. ”

After being taken to a lab for observation, the bear was discovered to have neurological abnormalities that made his life untenable, and he was euthanized.

However, encephalitis doesn’t always end in death: A bear that went viral after stepping on a snowboard at a ski resort in 2019 continues to live – with extensive vet care and not yet fully recovered – on campus Ramona from the San Diego Humane Society, and is now three years old and called Benji.