Pennsylvania Game News - March 2017 - 5

view because they take more risks and
show up where easy meals can be had: at
roadkills along busy highways, at backyard birdfeeders, and in dumpsters.
And folks who see a mangy bear don't
forget.
"It's such a disturbing, in-your-face
disease," Ternent said.
But publicity and memories do not
advance mange. Only mites can do that.
And the only ways a healthy bear normally can acquire these mites is from
another bear harboring mites, or from
places where mangy animals have been.
When bears frequent dumps, feeding
stations, even a road-killed deer, there's
a chance for bear-to-bear contact, or for
mites to survive for a short period when
they are forced from one host and find
their way aboard another. It can even
happen around bait used to attract big
game to a trail camera.

FEEDING HURTS BEARS

In Pennsylvania, it is illegal to feed
bears. And indirect feeding, where food is
intended for other animals such as deer or
songbirds, also is illegal if it causes bears
to congregate.
This law cuts down on the chances
of bears becoming habituated to people,
and serves as well to protect bears against
diseases like mange.
Free food or minerals indiscriminately
draw both sick and healthy bears. That
puts healthy bears in harm's way.
And while most people who feed
wildlife likely consider it beneficial, or at
least harmless, any activity that congregates wildlife has the potential to increase
disease transmission.
With mange, it certainly is a risk factor.
"Many of the mange sightings we hear
about involve bears that have been drawn
to a feeder or trail-camera attractant,"
MARCH 2017

REPORT MANGE
If you see a black bear with mange, please
report it to the Pennsylvania Game Commission
to help biologists keep tabs on mange's spread.
Emails titled "BEAR MANGE" can be submitted to
pgccomments@pa.gov. Please include the day,
time, county and location of the sighting.

Ternent said. "When we ask if other bears
have been seen there, too, the answer is
frequently 'yes,' which is why removing
attractants is almost always our first piece
of advice to prevent further spread."
Rarely do bears acquire mange through
using a den previously occupied by
another hibernating bear, Ternent said.
Research has shown less than 1 percent
of Pennsylvania dens are reused.
"We know it is possible for the mites to
survive in the environment without a host
for a couple weeks in optimal conditions,
such as high humidity and cool temperatures," explained Brown. "Consequently,
bears can be infected from mites that are
in the environment. This is a subject we
are currently researching to better understand the risks for this type of indirect
environmental transmission."
Bears afflicted with mange sometimes
won't den up, or they leave their dens
earlier.
"We tend to get a rash of cases in the
spring when bears emerge, and in the
winter when they're supposed to be denning," Ternent explained. "Constant itching and pre-winter malnourishment likely
prevent hibernation, or at a minimum,
regularly disrupt it."
Unless it's mating season, black bears
typically won't get close to one another.
They're more solitary than other big
game. That's what makes mange so
unlikely to pass from bear to bear.
5

Pennsylvania Game News - March 2017

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