A black bear that was found paralyzed and emaciated in a field in northwestern Ontario is slowly recovering after being treated by a team of veterinarians hundreds of kilometres away.
The female bear, nicknamed "Hope," was found in Fort Frances, west of Thunder Bay, Ont. in December. She weighed 90 pounds when it was found, approximately half of what a bear her size should weigh.
She was cared for at a nearby animal sanctuary, but didn't appear to be healing. Members of the Isaiah Wildlife Sanctuary in Emo, Ont. contacted Mike McIntosh of Bear With Us, an organization that has rehabilitated more than 350 bears in the last 22 years.
McIntosh drove approximately 3,500 kilometres to transport Hope from Fort Frances to his bear sanctuary in Huntsville, Ont. He examined the bear and found that she was paralyzed and had pneumonia.
On Feb. 3, she was taken to a veterinary clinic in Oakville, southwest of Toronto, for a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan, which is rarely performed on animals. The MRI showed the bear didn't have any structural damage, so veterinarians collected spinal fluid for analysis.
Hope was diagnosed with meningitis, and given a drug plan that should have her back on her feet in a month.
"She is getting various types of medication to combat infections, her spinal cord condition and to control her pain," McIntosh wrote on Facebook on Wednesday.
"We do not expect Hope to be cured of her condition in 3 or 4 weeks. It took her a long time to get to this state. It will take time to get better."
McIntosh wrote that several people have donated money to the organization which helped cover her medical expenses.
He wrote that he hopes to reintroduce the bear into the wild when she gets better.
