Black Bears on the Mend

National Wildlife
Aug/Sept 2005

TWO HUNDRED POUNDS of black fur and solid muscle sprawl on a gurney in a small room at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine. The patient, a wild black bear captured at a popular picnic area in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, is being prepped for x-rays. National Park Service biologist Bill Stiver paces in the hallway, waiting for the doctor’s prognosis. An hour ticks by. Then veterinarian Ed Ramsey emerges from the x-ray room. “This bear had better learn karate—his teeth are in bad shape,” Ramsey says. “We’ll have to do some root canals.” Stiver is not surprised. He has approved dental surgery for bears before, an indication of the lengths to which authorities will go to keep the Great Smokies icon out of trouble. “Teeth are the weak link for bears,” Stiver says. “When the teeth go, they become nuisance bears, eating garbage and strolling through picnic areas. Once the problem is corrected, we tend not to see these animals anymore.” Read the Article