kitty
12-11-2002, 05:00 PM
http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2002/US/South/12/11/offbeat.florida.bears.ap/story.bald.bear.ap.jpg
OCALA NATIONAL FOREST, Florida (AP) -- More than half the black bears living in the forest around the north-central Florida community of Lynne are suffering from a type of mange that makes their hair fall out.
It is the only area in the country where biologists say they have seen a relatively large number of bears with the affliction.
"They look like a large, bald rat," said Mark Cunningham, a veterinarian with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "I show pictures to people who don't even recognize they are bears."
Cunningham said the mange is linked to tiny mites that attack the bears' skin. Most bears can have some mites, but the Lynne bears seem to have far more than normal.
More than 15 bears -- about 60 percent of those in the area -- have varying degrees of hair loss. About 90 percent of the females have it, and the illness seems to be handed down to their cubs.
Officials are not doing anything to relieve the bears' condition. The bears do not seem to have health problems besides hair loss, Cunningham said.
http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/South/12/11/off...s.ap/index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/South/12/11/offbeat.florida.bears.ap/index.html)
OCALA NATIONAL FOREST, Florida (AP) -- More than half the black bears living in the forest around the north-central Florida community of Lynne are suffering from a type of mange that makes their hair fall out.
It is the only area in the country where biologists say they have seen a relatively large number of bears with the affliction.
"They look like a large, bald rat," said Mark Cunningham, a veterinarian with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "I show pictures to people who don't even recognize they are bears."
Cunningham said the mange is linked to tiny mites that attack the bears' skin. Most bears can have some mites, but the Lynne bears seem to have far more than normal.
More than 15 bears -- about 60 percent of those in the area -- have varying degrees of hair loss. About 90 percent of the females have it, and the illness seems to be handed down to their cubs.
Officials are not doing anything to relieve the bears' condition. The bears do not seem to have health problems besides hair loss, Cunningham said.
http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/South/12/11/off...s.ap/index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/South/12/11/offbeat.florida.bears.ap/index.html)