On the afternoon of February 14, the veterinary team sedated Black Bear yearling #19-0097 to examine her paws. The abrasions on her paw pads (first noted during the admission examination) had worsened during the past several days while the bear was housed in a crate. It’s possible the bear had suffered some mild frostbite on her paws in the wild and the dead skin is now sloughing off.
News
February 11, 2019
On the evening of February 9, a yearling Black Bear was admitted to the Wildlife Center as patient #19-0097. The female bear was found in a cornfield in Shenandoah County and was having a difficult time walking. Two DGIF biologists were able to contain the bear and transported her to the Wildlife Center.
February 11, 2019
Sadly, on the morning of February 7, the staff found Red-tailed Hawk #19-0062 deceased in his enclosure.
The veterinary students conducted a necropsy on the hawk that afternoon to see what they could learn about this hawk’s internal injuries. No pericardial effusion [fluid around the heart] was noted as it was on admission, and the chambers and valves of the bird’s heart were within normal limits. Unfortunately, there were significant changes to the bird’s lungs, liver, and kidneys.
February 11, 2019
On Friday, February 8, Dr. Karra anesthetized Black Bear yearling #19-0057 for a follow-up examination. Dr. Karra gave a full report of the exam:
“The bear weighed 8.6 kg today (an increase of 2.2 kg since admission). She is still thin, but in better body condition than on admission. Her physical exam was within normal limits, with the exception of a small old healing abrasion on one of her paw pads. A skin scraping was performed, which revealed one dead ursacroptes mite. No sarcoptes mites were identified.
February 7, 2019
Bald Eagle #19-0031 has made improvements during the three weeks following surgery. Although the bird was initially not eating well, her appetite has improved tremendously; the veterinary staff say she is now “ravenous” and readily eats the whole rat and fish that are offered to her each day. The bird’s fungal and yeast infections (likely caused by post-surgical antibiotics) have now cleared.
