Black bear mange sightings on rise in Southwest Virginia
Black bear sightings are at their peak in Southwest Virginia, but many of the bears turning up this season aren’t looking like their usual selves. DWR biologist Katie Martin said June, July and August are peak months for bear sightings because bears are out looking for food. While the sightings are normal, this year a growing number of bears are being spotted without hair, visibly underweight and in poor condition — and 10 News viewers are taking notice.
The station has received an outpouring of emails from viewers sharing photos and videos of the ailing animals, raising public concern about the health of the local bear population.
What is mange?
Mange, a skin disease caused by microscopic mites, is behind the troubling appearances. Katie Martin, a bear biologist with the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources, explained how it works.
“It is caused by a little microscopic mite that will actually burrow under the skin and just causes this really intense itching, sometimes crusty skin, the hair can fall out,” Martin said. “The mite cannot be seen, but it can cause these symptoms that then are visible, such as hair loss, that crusty skin, and sometimes in really extreme cases, it can cause the animal to start losing weight, become fairly emaciated, the really extreme case alter their behavior and just how they’ll react to their environment.”
The bears have been spotted scavenging near bird feeders, beehives and front yards, with some venturing onto residential porches. Multiple videos submitted by area residents show bears with varying degrees of fur loss — some cases more severe than others.
Southwest Virginia is currently one of the state’s hottest spots for bear mange cases, with the highest concentrations in Roanoke, Franklin and Montgomery counties.
Treatment is challenging
While the images can be difficult to see, Martin said treating wild bears is far more complicated than it might seem.
“It’s really hard sometimes to see these animals, of course, because you see them, they’re scratching, they’re a little bit miserable with all those bugs that are under their skin and bothering them for sure,” she said. “Treatment is really difficult in wild animals, especially for something like mange, because treatments are often based on the weight of the animal and so you need to really [know] the weight of that individual animal to treat it. And so just broad scale trying to put something on the landscape would not be effective and can actually have some detriment to cause and resistance of treatment for other animals like domestic animals that we do have treatment [for].”
Martin said that is why it is important that the public don’t try to treat these bears themselves. Treatment administered by an untrained individual is dangerous for the person and animals.
“Trying to treat animals like this, you know, somebody trying to put out treatment for a bear, well-meaning to do that, could end up inadvertently actually harming other wildlife. So, things like Ivermectin are actually lethal to other wildlife species and even some canine domestic dogs. So that would be really risky," Martin said.
The DWR said it will only intervene in the most severe cases, but Martin offered some reassurance.
“Thankfully a lot of these animals can survive and so while they can look really bad — especially when we see that hair loss — you can see their skin looks a little crusty or thickened to us that looks obviously very bad,” Martin said. “But as long as that bear has some good body condition, some fat and muscle on it, they’re often able to get over these infestations from the mite and that’s really the best outcome — is that that animal can fight it off itself and then hopefully be able to have some resilience in the future in our bear population to not succumb to mange like this.”
Mange can spread to pets — and people
Martin said mange spreads from bear to bear and can also be transmitted to other animals, including household pets. In much less severe cases, it can affect people as well. Anyone who believes they or their pet has come into contact with a mangy animal is encouraged to consult a doctor or veterinarian about treatment options.
“Definitely talk to your veterinarian. If you do have pets around and they have interacted where a bear with mange has been, it’s always good to just give your veterinarians a call to check. If your dog or cat is on monthly flea and tick medications, they should be good, Martin said.
”Humans can also get mange. Thankfully, it is usually very mild if a person gets it. So again, if you are in an area handling anything that a bear with mange has been around, it is always good if you get a little rash, to check in with your health care provider as well just to make sure everything is okay."
Virginia Tech partnership underway
The DWR is partnering with Virginia Tech to better understand the issue. The research involves collaring bears in areas where mange is already well-established.
“We’ve got amazing students who’re working in our mange endemic area. They’re up in Botetourt, Rockbridge and Augusta where they’re collaring black bears, putting GPS collars on bears with mange, some bears without mange, looking at our survival, transmission and population dynamics of bears with mange,” Martin said.
Martin said the data could help shape how the agency responds to mange outbreaks across the state in the future.
“We’re hoping what we’re going to find in this will help us be able to better manage — as mange moves throughout the state, it seems like it’s kind of slowly working its way down the Blue Ridge,” she said. “Hopefully this will be able to guide our management decisions moving forward and help us know how to react to this in bears.”
More about the study can be found here.
What residents can do
For now, wildlife officials are asking residents to keep their distance from bears, give them space and remove anything from their yards that might attract them — including bird feeders, beehives and trash or food waste.
She said to contact DWR Wildlife Conflict Helpline for issues with bears or sightings of mange:
- Toll Free: 1-855-571-9003 or vawildlifeconflict@usda.gov
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