Starving 400lb bear suffers 'horrific' death as intestines blocked by wet wipes
A starving 400lb bear suffered a "horrific" death after his intestines were blocked with wet wipes.
Colorado wildlife officers had to euthanise a poorly black male bear after receiving dozens of calls from concerned residents in Telluride on September 9. During a necropsy, officers came across multiple items of rubbish including wet wipes and paper towels.
The bear, who had showed signs of infection, was suffering from a severe intestinal blockage caused by human rubbish. “There was all these paper towels, wipes, plastic bag type materials, and indigestible food content,” said John Livingston, Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesperson. “Trash content … wasn’t able to move its way through to the lower intestines.”
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The shocking amount of rubbish was found in the bear (Colorado Parks & Wildlife)The amount of rubbish inside the bear was stopping him absorbing proper nutrients, which means the animal would have likely starved for months before dying. “A bear like this is about 400 pounds and has a lot of fat on it,” Mr Livingston told CNN.
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The bear had puffy eyes and had discharge coming from its eyes and mouth - he could barely move such was the pain he was suffering. On the morning of September 10, CPW officers conducted a full field necropsy of the bear.
Bears go through rubbish which can kill them (Colorado Parks & Wildlife)“The removal of the stomach and intestines showed that the bear was starving due to a plug of paper towels, disinfectant wipes, napkins, parts of plastic sacks and wax paper food wrappers in the pylorus,” said CPW District Wildlife Manager Mark Caddy. “This plug was accompanied by french fries, green beans, onions and peanuts. The small and large intestines were empty of matter. The intestines were enlarged due to bacteria in the beginning stages of decomposition, but we opened them up in several locations and found no digested food matter.”
People have been reminded to not leave rubbish around (Colorado Parks & Wildlife)Area Wildlife Manager Rachel Sralla said the bear was "really sick", she added: “It all comes back to trash, which we talk about too often when it comes to bear conflicts in Colorado. The reason we had to put this bear down was to end its suffering that was caused by eating indigestible trash.
“We could not leave a sick bear like this knowing it was suffering and struggling to survive. When you have a very fat 400-pound bear, it will take it ages to starve to death. That’s a horrific way to die, decaying from the inside out for that long. As officers, we had to make an unfavourable call. It’s a call we wish we never had to make.”
Officials have demanded residents to pick up their rubbish to help protect wildlife as failure to do so result in a fine of $250 for the first offence; $500 for a second offence; a third offence will result in a summons to appear in Municipal Court.
“Telluride has an ordinance to address bear in trash issues,” Sralla said. “We need the community to follow that ordinance to be a better neighbor to our bears and prevent this type of incident from happening again.”
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