NIPPENOSE TOWNSHIP -- Stop feeding the bears -- that's what Pennsylvania Game Commission officers are telling people to do in Lycoming County.
Mange, a sometimes fatal skin infection, is spreading among the bear population in central Pennsylvania.
It would be extremely difficult for the Game Commission officers to completely get rid of mange, but what they can do is help prevent the spread of the skin infection.
When the Pennsylvania Game Commission found a bear two years ago in Lycoming County, it was starving to death left with just a tuft of hair on its back.
"It was first a couple isolated cases and over the years it's gotten a lot more severe," said Harold Cole, Pennsylvania Game Commission.
This black bear and others just like it in Lycoming County have died from a severe case of mange caused by mites.
DONT FEED THE BEARS, A FED BEAR IS A DEAD BEAR
Pennsylvania bear mange epidemic focus of Penn State and Game Commission project
Jeff Mulhollem, April 25, 2018:
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Pennsylvania's black bear population is experiencing a mange epidemic, and a Penn State research team will work with the state Game Commission to gain a better understanding of the disease and develop strategies to manage it.
Mange is a highly contagious skin disease caused by parasitic mites that results in hair loss and sometimes emaciation and death. It has afflicted mammals around the world for centuries and likely much longer. To learn why the disease has grown so common and severe in Pennsylvania bears in recent years, a small group of biologists, immunologists, and entomologists in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences will study bear ecology, movement, and immune response.
Researchers also will focus on the genetics of the sarcoptes mites and ticks the bears are carrying. Read More Here
DONT FEED THE BEARS
#BlackBearMangeEpidemic