Vets in Poland hope antibiotics will save brown bear cub
A veterinarian said Tuesday that a brown bear cub found exhausted in snowy woods in southeastern Poland has been diagnosed with a disease that will be treated with antibiotics.
The young male named Ada has been diagnosed with anaplasmosis, a dangerous disease that has affected the cub's lungs and is probably behind the neurological symptoms like the shaking of the head.
He will be administered antibiotics twice a day with hopes for a full cure, doctor Radoslaw Fedaczynski said in a video posted on his veterinary center's Facebook.
Earlier Tuesday, another veterinarian at the center, Jakub Kotowicz, told The Associated Press it was a "good sign" that Ada had good appetite and was eating his meals, after he was given medication and put in a warm hut.
"But he is in serious condition with advanced neurological symptoms persisting," Kotowicz, deputy head of the veterinary center in Przemysl, said before the diagnosis.
The cub, apparently born in the spring of 2021, was spotted by a forester on Monday wobbling alone in snow near a creek.
There were wolf tracks nearby and some blood spots, but no sign of his mother. Local forestry authorities decided he should be caught and taken to the Center for Rehabilitation of Protected Animals in Przemysl, spokesman for local foresters, Maciej Szpiech, said.
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Veterinarians diagnose and treat an exhausted young male brown bear named Ada at the center, for Rehabilitation of Protected Animals in Przemysl, Poland, on Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022. The bear was spotted Monday wobbling alone in the cold, snowy forest in southeastern Poland, with wolf tracks and blood spots nearby, while no sight of his mother. He remains in life-threating condition with neurological symptoms. Credit: Rehabilitation of Protected Animals via AP -
Veterinarians diagnose and treat an exhausted young male brown bear named Ada at the center, for Rehabilitation of Protected Animals in Przemysl, Poland, on Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022. The bear was spotted Monday wobbling alone in the cold, snowy forest in southeastern Poland, with wolf tracks and blood spots nearby, while no sight of his mother. He remains in life-threating condition with neurological symptoms. Credit: Rehabilitation of Protected Animals via AP -
Veterinarians diagnose and treat an exhausted young male brown bear named Ada at the center, for Rehabilitation of Protected Animals in Przemysl, Poland, on Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022. The bear was spotted Monday wobbling alone in the cold, snowy forest in southeastern Poland, with wolf tracks and blood spots nearby, while no sight of his mother. He remains in life-threating condition with neurological symptoms. Credit: Rehabilitation of Protected Animals via AP
Szpiech said the aim is to eventually release the cub back into nature.
In 2016, the center saved a young female bear that was later sent to a zoo in Poznan, western Poland.
Brown bears are rare in Poland and are strictly protected, numbering no more than some 100 animals.
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