Bear Safety Education

Recently the park obtained a large, male, black bear from the Department of Environmental Conservation.  The bear was killed out of season by a deer hunter, who claimed it attacked him.  It was donated to the park for educational purposes.  A taxidermist mounted the head and front paws, and prepared the skull.  These are materials the park naturalists will use for the Bear Safety program.  Bear Safety was added to the list of program offerings in an effort to educate campers to the dangers of feeding and getting close to bears.  Bears in the park are used to people, and they seem tame.  Even so, they are still potentially dangerous wild animals.

The taxidermist discovered an interesting thing when he prepared the skull.  The bear had a bad canine tooth, or fang.   The tooth had been broken off, and was riddled with decay.  The bear, apparently an old one, had also lost one of his cheek teeth. The bad tooth, probably infected, caused the upper jawbone to deteriorate.  Bears are among the few wild animals that are subject to tooth decay.

 

The right side of the skull of a big male black bear. The canine teeth (fangs) are normal.

 

A missing molar. The eroded jawbone makes us think this tooth was infected.

 

Left side of skull showing broken/decayed canine tooth.

 

Close-up of decayed canine.

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