STATUS OF BEAR WELFARE

Status of Bear Welfare in Cherokee, North Carolina
In nature, bears devote a large part of their day to foraging for food. This activity is essential to
maintaining physical fitness. Not only did the bears confined in pits and cages lack the space to
perform this natural daily behavior, they were handed their food (at specific times by keepers and
randomly throughout the day by the public), and most of it was in an unnatural form (dog kibble).
The lack of proper exercise, coupled with unregulated feedings and a highly processed, highprotein
kibble designed for dogs, leads to obesity and poor physical fitness. (Obesity was not as
significant in the lower-ranking bears who may have been prevented from eating the amounts
offered.)
The extra pounds of fat carried around by an obese bear exert additional pressure on all joints
and the spine, eventually causing the wearing away of the protective cartilage and resulting in
osteoarthritis. Along with the burden on their spine and joints, obese bears lose their lean muscle
mass, further weakening their already overtaxed musculoskeletal system.
Psychologists have long understood the direct effects that exercise—and the lack of it—has upon
depression in humans. For people, exercise can be as crucial to maintaining proper mental health
as it is to maintaining physical well-being. 15
Assessing an animal’s appetite on a daily basis is absolutely necessary to monitoring the animal’s
health. Bears may not exhibit obvious signs of sickness, because doing so can make them
vulnerable in their natural habitat. Therefore, poor appetite can be an important indicator of a
health issue. A keeper may think that a bear is full from uncontrolled public feeding and ignore
critical signs of poor appetite during any supplemental feeding provided by staffers. At SL, a
keeper dumped dry dog food in the cage of the two older bears and left, not watching to see if
both bears consumed their rations.
CHRONIC PAIN: NECK, BACK, AND SHOULDERS
Bears evolved as quadrupeds who on occasion can stand briefly on their hind limbs to get more
information about their surroundings. Bears in pits must constantly point their heads straight up,
sit on their haunches, or stand erect for prolonged periods to view the activity that is most
prevalent 10 or more feet above them. Even when they stand up, they still need to crane their
heads. It is well documented that even in species that are bipedal, such as humans, keeping the
body in an upright position for any length of time requires considerable muscular effort and is
particularly unhealthy when standing motionless. The blood supply to the loaded muscles is
reduced, which accelerates the onset of fatigue and causes pain in the muscles that are used to
maintain an upright position, specifically the legs, back, and neck. Prolonged and frequent
standing causes blood to pool in the legs and feet, causing circulatory problems. 16 Furthermore,
repeatedly holding the neck or back in abnormal positions results in chronic back and neck
alignment problems as well as muscle strains and the development of trigger points or “knots” in
the muscles, all of which cause chronic and considerable pain.
DENTAL PROBLEMS
Excessive calculus buildup was noted on all bears for whom a look inside the mouth was offered.
The following problems were also observed:
AN INVESTIGATIVE REPORT OF CHIEF SAUNOOKE BEAR PARK, CHEROKEE BEAR ZOO, AND SANTA’S LAND | 33