People in California called for help when they saw a hairless creature crawling through the trash.
When they arrived, they couldn’t believe their eyes: a juvenile black bear without fur, according to The Humane Society of the United States. The bear was caught and sent to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
They discovered the bear was coated with mange after inspecting her. Mange is a painful skin condition caused by skin mites. The mange had spread across her body, resulting in full hair loss.
The naked bear needs assistance and a safe haven to heal. On Christmas Eve, two kind volunteers from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife drove Eve, the bear, to FFAWC. The FFAWC completed the necessary preparations for a bear sanctuary. Because of her severe mange, they had to think hard about the bedding and materials they used. They didn’t want to hurt Eve’s skin any more. Mange is also very infectious, so they had to make it as clean as possible.
Eve was placed in her own sanctuary to rehabilitate after she arrived at FFAWC. She instantly won the volunteers’ hearts. Eve is on the mend, but it will take some time. The team expects she will recover completely. FFAWC will reintroduce her to the wild after she has recovered entirely.
“Each day she examines her room and starts picking materials to shred and bring into her igloo to create a nest for the night,” the FFAWC staff wrote of her recuperation. She works hard, and it’s always exciting to see what she comes up with.
She is loving her room and all the fresh food, particularly apples, until she is freed. She returns each apple to her nest throughout the video.
Thank you to everyone who helped rescue and heal Eve.
View Eve in the FFAWC sanctuary in the video below.