Dolores The Bears' Mysterious And Sad Hair Loss (PHOTOS)

As the German winter approaches, Dolores and her friends will not be bundling up -- the Leipzig zoo's bears have lost all of their fur. The scary part is that vets aren't sure why the sudden hair loss happened or if there is anything to do about it. The hairless bears have become something of a spectacle at their zoo as crowds flock to check out their rare condition. HuffPost Green wishes the poor animals a warm winter and a safe recovery.

• • • • Dolores' condition has baffled vets and left her completely hairless.

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Comments

[johnatl98]

The bear is probably bored and depressed.
She certainly wouldn't be walking around on bricks and concrete if she lived in the woods. She also wouldn't be ogled by people all day.
I emailed the International Bear Foundation about this, but haven't received a reply.

[dsws]

Somebody fix the apostrophe. Other bears have the problem too, so if all of them were mentioned in the title the apostrophe would be correct. But "Dolores the bear" is singular, so the possessive form would be "Dolores the bear's", not "Dolores the bears'".

[Iwpach]

It's "Dolores the bare"

[whateverlolawants]

Fascinating, but moreover, very sad for the bears. I hope they figure out what's going on and the bears recover.

[Yellowbird]

In the Pacific NW we have already encountered this condition. Bear, deer, and elk went hairless while we tried to find the reason. It turned out that the pellets they dropped into the forest floor to fertilize the fur trees to make them grow faster (a thing done by Weyerhauser of Canada who owns much of the commercial forest tracts) was the cause.

So if anyone knows how to reach the German Zoo, tell them the bear is eating fertilizer in his food pellets that is the cause.

A change in diet will grow back the coat. Until then the bear MUST be protected from cold.

[MyTake]

Has Al Gore blamed this on Global Warming yet?

[ROLtheWolf]

Should he?

[simpleperson]

Only if it will make him more money.

[lettucepray]

This is rather frightening. There are black bears in FL with the same affliction: http://www.avianweb.com/bitingmites.html

It seems to be associated with a terrifying emerging pandemic called "Morgellons Disease":
http://morgellons.org/

[blaharumph]

i've never heard of morgellons until reading your link.
so unusual, it did not seem real at first. odd.

[blaharumph]

bear alopecia

[Bearangaria]

I believe this to be true.

[Simonsaid]

For those who think their comments are funny and cute, they're not.
This is so sad and quite horrible. The bears are suffering and you have no compassion.

Please keep us informed of their future well being. I pray for their recovery. These are beautiful and powerful creatures who should be respected.

I HATE ZOOS !!!!!

[Simonsaid]

If you read most of the readers comment from the Daily Mail's article concerning the bears, most of them are intelligent and very serious, unlike this website. Shows what the mentality is with some of you. Goofy and childlike.

[Lurker50]

What a shame, probably some nasty people disease

[MissUnderstood]

it's Bush's and Cheney's fault!

[3blueeggs]

Well, mange is contagious, you know.

[StValentine]

why are their surroundings brick?

[blaharumph]

i was wondering that too.

[Aristotle79]

My head feels the pain of these bears..

[Horus45]

Chupacabra!

[ss193]

They are most likely stressed and may have a food allergy. This is beyond sad.

[Amalek]

What an amazing resemblance to Mitch McConnell.