Staff
A black bear found paralyzed in a large field on Frenchman’s Rock Road in Morson back in December is recuperating at the “Bear With Us Sanctuary and Rehabilitation Centre for Bears” in Sprucedale, Ont.
The bear, named “Hope,” was found Dec. 15 by Chris Jack and family. They ultimately contacted Mike Scheibler, who runs the Isaiah wildlife sanctuary near Emo.
“I arrived two hours later to find an animal in the worst shape imaginable—a bearskin rug with bones,” Scheibler recalled.
“One eye already was cloudy and she had no strength to even move her tongue.
“I believed she had, at most, one-two hours to live,” Scheibler added, noting the bear was shivering uncontrollably despite being covered with a piece of rug and a blanket.
“I tried to put small pieces of doughnut into her mouth to try and get her blood sugar up, but she had no saliva to process it,” Scheibler had noted.
“Her tongue literally was glued to her swollen mouth.
“I was dealing with hypothermia, dehydration, and starvation and I had no idea what damage there was to vital organs.”
Scheibler took the bear back to his home, fed it some honey and water, and got the propane heater going.
After Hope made it through the next few days, he contacted Mike McIntosh at “Bear With Us.”
“Hope is extremely thin from starvation, cannot walk, cannot even stand,” McIntosh wrote on his Facebook page on Jan. 27.
“The question is why?”
A veterinarian was hired from Fort Frances to visit Scheibler’s property to see if Hope could survive the long trip to Sprucedale, where she could get help from professionals, including veterinarian Dr. Sherri Cox of the National Wildlife Centre of Canada.
The answer was “Hope is very much alive,” so Bear With Us paid the vet bill and arrangements were made, such as receiving approval from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests (Fort Frances) to move her.
McIntosh noted flights were looked into but there was no success, partly due to weather.
“All involved knew Hope the bear was suffering,” McIntosh remarked, adding he decided to make the roughly 3,200-km round trip to transport Hope from Emo to his bear sanctuary.
Hope arrived in Sprucedale on Jan. 26.
“[She] is in very poor condition,” McIntosh noted the following day. “She is paralyzed, has a touch of pneumonia, and is extremely thin.
“During a careful look over tonight and while cleaning Hope, I noticed a badly-infected wound on her right hip,” he said in a Facebook post.
Hope weighed about 90 pounds—about half of what she is supposed to weigh.
In fact, Scheibler had estimated Hope to be about two years old. She’s now believed to be closer to four years old.
McIntosh then brought Hope to the Mississauga Oakville Veterinary Emergency Hospital last week for a rarely-performed MRI.
While veterinarians often perform MRIs on cats and dogs, it is not commonly used for bears—possibly only one other bear in Canada has ever undergone an MRI.
According to veterinarians, tests show Hope did not sustain any structural damage to her spine.
They diagnosed a form of meningitis called myelitis, although what exactly caused the ailment remains unclear.
The vets prescribed a drug plan that they expect will have Hope up on her feet again within a month.
As of Saturday, Hope is continuing to improve.
“[She] is stronger and has more movement in her front forearms,” McIntosh updated on Facebook.
“Of concern still is the lack of feeling and movement in her rear. . . .
“Hope’s treatment is expected to continue for some time as her recuperation may take weeks,” he added.
“She’s definitely a fighter,” noted Jack, who has been following Hope’s progress. “And to think MNR told us when we found her to just let nature take its course . . .
“But [we] are very thankful to see that Hope is getting the special treatment she deserves.”
If her treatment continues positively, Hope could be back in the wild near here as early as this summer.
