Glacier Bay National Park & PreservePage 87 of 97
A black bear cub in Glacier Bay had avian influenza: what the park saw
A black bear cub that wandered Glacier Bay National Park's headquarters area in October 2022 turned out to carry highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), one of very few mammals known to have caught it. The National Park Service's account follows the cub's decline from a healthy-looking animal to a sick one, the decision to euthanize it and what the lab found.
Black bear cub near the park offices in August 2022. NPS photo
Three cubs at headquarters
From May to early October 2022, a mother black bear with three cubs of the year came often to the park headquarters at Bartlett Cove, foraging for wild foods along the roadside and near buildings. In mid to late October one of the cubs began acting erratically and showed signs of failing health. Park biologists and officials from the Park Service and the State of Alaska decided to euthanize it to protect public safety and other wildlife.
How the cub declined
| Date (2022) | What was seen |
|---|---|
| October 11 | The family spent 2 to 3 hours near the offices; all the cubs looked active and healthy and fed on ground cone |
| The next day | A staff member noticed one cub often at a distance from the others and not feeding like them |
| October 14 | The mother passed with only two cubs; the third walked by moaning and sniffing, looking healthy |
| October 15 | A single cub stumbled along the park road, moaning, trying to get under cars, with trouble placing its paws and sometimes falling on its head; no signs of injury or discharge |
| October 16 | It had seizures and foamed at the mouth, then slept in the same place until nightfall |
| October 17 | It seemed blind and deaf, walking in circles and running into buildings; staff herded it into a temporary enclosure for public safety |
| October 18 to 20 | It alternately slept and walked in circles, not responding to sights or sounds and showing no interest in water |
The bear family near the park offices on October 11, 2022. NPS photo
The decision and the result
The park biologist consulted federal and state biologists and veterinarians, and all agreed the cub should be euthanized in case it had rabies, avian influenza or another communicable disease. A state biologist did so on October 20. The animal was a male about eight months old weighing 32 pounds, generally in good body condition, with no broken bones or obvious trauma. Its body went to the state veterinarian for a necropsy.
The necropsy found hemorrhaging along the left side of the skull and a swollen brain. Laboratory analysis was negative for rabies and canine distemper but positive for HPAI in brain tissue and in nasal and rectal swabs. HPAI had been detected in only one other black bear, in Quebec in June 2022. In Alaska the virus had previously been found in just two mammals, both red foxes, though it had been found in many wild and domestic birds through the summer and fall. The cub was likely exposed by eating an infected bird.
What the park asks
The virus has not been detected in any other animal in the park. Park biologists will keep monitoring wildlife and send dead animals for testing. Anyone who sees sick birds or mammals behaving strangely should report them at once to park staff, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hotline.
Black bear cub near the park offices in September 2022. NPS photo
Sources
- National Park Service, Glacier Bay National Park, "Report of Black Bear Cub with Avian Influenza in Glacier Bay National Park" (https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/black-bear-cub-avian-influenza-2022.htm); rewritten in hubnx's own words. A contact name and one more photo of the bear family are left out.