I have seen more than my share of bears and I’d like to say you could convince me that that photo is many things other than a bear. The little bit of ear I see is not even right in shape or position.

I have never seen a bear with mange, have I missed something?

Osky

We don’t have bears in this part of Georgia, but I have been to the animal park and just based off of that, I’d say monkey!

Bonobo.

Moosetrot

Do you have any other pictures of it?

Keith

Moosetrot

The skin under a bear's fur is whitish. The skin under Chimp or Bonobo's hair is dark, as per the picture. If we had a good picture of the head it could be definitive.

Moosetrot

Sure don't look right for a bear.

Keith

I can assure you it’s a bear, pic taken with my trail cam. Here’s another pic, same time. If you zoom in, you can see it’s missing fur from scratching. Bears with mange will appear to be sporting a Mohawk down their back….they can’t itch that spot.

Jeez that last picture looks like a Hog

Not really. Legs are skinny, it looks thick because the mane on its back is sticking up.

This pic came from the same area, almost one year ago, a couple yards from the other camera. It’s got mange bad on its face. I posted the pic from December 2nd, bear looked really bad then. My son thinks it’s the same bear in all three pics….I don’t think so. I didn’t think the December bear could have survived.

I would think mange in a bear population would be a serious concern to wildlife managers. As I understand, fleas thar cause mange are specific to the species. So transfer from another species doesn’t happen. I assume mange is always present and the species population determines how often it shows up.
Would seem reasonable to up the bag limit.
You guys are surprised an animal that hibernates survives the winter? You should see some of the wolves trappers catch up here! There’s the real surprise!

Looks like the better looking end of Ingrid Newkirk.