Black bears have become more friendly. This is a sign of a dangerous disease

Any bear is a large predator that is verydangerous to humans. They cannot be taken by surprise, therefore, it is recommended to make noise while walking in the forest so that the animal will run away on its own. But sometimes huge predators themselves show great interest in people. For several years in a row in California and Nevada have been meeting black bearswho are being too friendly.Eyewitnesses say that in behavior they are similar to dogs: they like to come close and seem to ask to play with them. From the outside it looks very nice, but changes in behavior are usually symptoms of dangerous diseases. Let's look at a couple of cases of friendly bears meeting humans and find out what kind of illness makes them become such affectionate animals. Unfortunately, scientists still have no idea how to save wild creatures.

Baribal bears are friendlier, but no good

Black bears also known as baribals... They are found in most states in the United States and in all Canadian provinces. They differ from brown bears in smooth black fur and smaller in size.

The friendliest bears

According to the State Conservation DepartmentCalifornia, the first sightings of friendly bears were recorded in 2014. People observe unusual behavior of animals almost every year. More recently, at least four bears with unusual behavior have been seen in the forests of the state. Baribals themselves are calm animals and rarely make contact with people. In most cases, they simply run away. But for several years in a row, these creatures behave, so to speak, like playful dogs.

Baribals are much calmer than other bears, but their current friendliness is too much even for them.

One of the meetings with unusual baribals wasreported in the Daily Mail. In 2019, one of the black bears suddenly approached a snowboarder who was skiing in a ski resort. The man was able to capture on video how the bear cub climbs onto the snowboard with interest and sniffs at his clothes. The hero of the video was given the nickname Benji. Unfortunately, upon further study, it turned out that he was suffering from a life-threatening illness. But we'll talk about this a little later, but for now, let's look at one more situation.

Ticks are the main vectors of encephalitis.

According to conservationists, at the momentalthough there are infected bears, there are not so many of them. The disease is unlikely to greatly reduce their population, but there is still cause for concern. Veterinarians don't yet know how they can help the bears. It goes without saying that they need help when they meet, but only professionals can provide support. You should not try to cure them on your own - it is better not even to approach them, but inform the conservationists about the meeting. It is impossible to release sick animals back into the wild. And all because due to the inability to get food and sensibly assess the danger, they are most likely to die.

What is the reason for the frequent incidence of bears is still unknown.

The aforementioned bear Benji managed to helpand he has already recovered. But what to do with the rest of the individuals? Nature conservationists do not have enough money for their maintenance and treatment. So far, we can only hope that the number of cases of infection will not increase. Perhaps protective organizations will be able to attract funding and in the future it will be possible to heal the bears.

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In general, something strange happens to everyonebears. Baribals became friendly, but brown bears began to attack people more often. According to statistics, from 2000 to 2015, 664 cases of bear attacks on people were recorded. I talked about why they suddenly became so aggressive in this article.