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First bear with bird flu in US was cub in Glacier Bay
November 22, 2022 by Raegan Miller, KRBD - Ketchikan
A black bear cub euthanized at Glacier Bay National Park this fall is the first in the country to test positive for a highly contagious strain of bird flu. Park visitors alerted wildlife officials after they noticed the animal’s strange behavior.
The cub was having a hard time walking and struggled to keep up with its two siblings and mother at Bartlett Cove in Glacier Bay National Park.
Kimberlee Beckmen is a wildlife veterinarian for the state’s Department of Fish and Game. She says concerned park visitors captured videos of the cub in October.
“They thought it was drunk — it was stumbling, and then was abandoned by the mother,” Beckmen said in a phone interview Tuesday.
Those symptoms are common with the strain, also called H5N1. It causes exhaustion and neurological problems like seizures....It’s the first time the strain has been spotted in an Alaska bear. Wildlife officials say two foxes have also tested positive this year — one in Unalaska and one in Unalakleet....
https://www.ktoo.org/2022/11/22/firs...n-glacier-bay/
November 22, 2022 by Raegan Miller, KRBD - Ketchikan
A black bear cub euthanized at Glacier Bay National Park this fall is the first in the country to test positive for a highly contagious strain of bird flu. Park visitors alerted wildlife officials after they noticed the animal’s strange behavior.
The cub was having a hard time walking and struggled to keep up with its two siblings and mother at Bartlett Cove in Glacier Bay National Park.
Kimberlee Beckmen is a wildlife veterinarian for the state’s Department of Fish and Game. She says concerned park visitors captured videos of the cub in October.
“They thought it was drunk — it was stumbling, and then was abandoned by the mother,” Beckmen said in a phone interview Tuesday.
Those symptoms are common with the strain, also called H5N1. It causes exhaustion and neurological problems like seizures....It’s the first time the strain has been spotted in an Alaska bear. Wildlife officials say two foxes have also tested positive this year — one in Unalaska and one in Unalakleet....
https://www.ktoo.org/2022/11/22/firs...n-glacier-bay/
