Bears tend to be active this time of year as they’re scrounging for food, and two different threats could be making it more difficult for them to survive.
Mange is a skin disease, and if a bear has a severe allergic reaction they can become lethargic and lose their hair. This variant started in Pennsylvania, then spread into Frederick County, and now it’s affecting bears in the New River Valley, explained Department of Wildlife Resources veterinarian John Tracey.
“From Pennsylvania the disease has moved north into New York and some other states,” Tracey said. “But has not moved with as much aggression as it has to the south into Virginia and West Virginia.”
Mange is caused by microscopic mites, related to scabies. It can be treated with medication, but bears can be reinfected.
“Bears can recover naturally on their own from mange, or they can die,” explained Marcella Kelly, a professor of wildlife conservation at Virginia Tech who is leading several studies that track bears.
In addition to mange, Kelly said bears are also threatened by climate change. “We’re worried about warm temperatures or warm spells in the late fall,” Kelly said.
Bears seem to go into hibernation later if it’s warm, and this could cause them to move closer to humans in search of easy calories from trash cans and bird feeders.
More research is needed to better understand how climate change and mange is affecting bears. “It’s a disease that is not really well funded,” Tracey said.
This requires collaring bears and tracking them over several years.
“The question is, what’s our mortality rate like in Virginia? Are we seeing more severe cases than in neighboring states? Is it more aggressive here and if so, why?” Tracey said.
Tracey and Kelly hope to have answers in a couple of years.
To report a sighting of a bear with mange, or a nuisance bear, you can call DWR’s Wildlife Conflict Help line, 1-855-571-9003. More information is here.
