Please take note that this article, which first appeared in the press in December 2016, is being republished.
The cause of death for several bears found in a church parking lot in Pennsylvania has been identified.
In a Facebook post, the West Wyoming Borough Police Department stated that it had been called to St. Monica’s Parish to look into the finding of three dead bear cubs and their mother, who weighed close to 300 pounds.
The animal’s deaths were classified as suspicious when the department contacted the Pennsylvania Game Commission.
Through Facebook, the commission sought assistance from the public in determining the bears’ whereabouts.
The animals showed no “signs of bullet wounds or external trauma.”
Game Commission Northeast Region Law Enforcement Supervisor Mark Rutkowski stated, “We view these bears’ deaths as extremely suspicious.” In an effort to identify the cause of death, toxicological testing will be conducted.
On Facebook, the Pennsylvania Game Commission disclosed that poisoning was the bear’s most likely cause of death.
Without “evidence of thrashing or stumbling in the area…suggesting they died suddenly,” the four bears were discovered dead in or near the same tree.
At the Penn State Animal Diagnostic Laboratory in State College, a post-mortem examination and toxicological testing were performed on the mother bear and a cub.
They had just eaten the leaves and seeds of an English yew (Taxus baccata) plant, according to an analysis of their stomach contents.
The plant known as the English yew has lance-shaped leaves and yields a cupped structure called a “aril” that resembles a red berry and contains a solitary brown seed. It is frequently found in urban settings and is widely grown as an ornamental shrub in eastern North America.According to the commission, the alkaloid compound taxine, which is present in all yew species, is poisonous to most animals and people if consumed. The yew’s toxicity level rises over the winter and is cardiotoxic, which affects the heart’s capacity to beat correctly.
The bears’ stomach contents, liver, and kidneys were subjected to organic chemical screens in order to check for the presence of environmental pollutants, euthanasia agents, and pesticides. The department posted on Facebook that the results of these screens and testing for the presence of ethylene glycol, a substance present in antifreeze, were all negative.
Consequently, it was determined that the bears’ deaths were caused by plant toxin poisoning because of the leaves and seeds found in their stomachs.➕
