UPDATES OF THE BLACK BEAR MANGE EPIDEMIC

PLEASE USE THIS HASHTAG #BlackBearMangeEpidemic
WHEN POSTING ON SOCIAL MEDIA ABOUT BEARS WITH MANGE FOR MANGE EPIDEMIC AWARENESS IN PENNSYLVANIA BLACK BEARS.

I wasn't fast enough with the camera. But this is a Black Bear with Mange. Feeding Bear's only hurt's them by spreading the Mange. Please don't feed the Bears in Central Pennsylvania. #BlackBearMangeEpidemic  🐻🐻🐻

Mange Epidemic in Pennsylvania Black Bears Video

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.