5 bears die at B.C. wildlife rescue, possibly from parasite<\/p>\n
Published 7:00 am Sunday, April 26, 2026<\/p>\n
UPDATE:<\/p>\n
After five bears died at the Northern Lights Wildlife Shelter in Smithers earlier this week, lab results released today may point to the cause.<\/p>\n
The society has received preliminary lab result with the diagnosis of sarcocystis. This is a parasite that has been found in both black bears and grizzlies in recent years.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is transmitted through an unknown host, so we don\u2019t have to worry about transmission from bear to bear, which is a great relief. It is assumed that the host might be meat or fish, so we have stopped feeding both at this time until we can confirm that the parasite is killed by freezing,\u201d said a post on their Facebook page.<\/p>\n
The post went on to say they still have Cider, who is showing signs, and they are treating her with antibiotics and a liver-supporting diet. The remaining bears in this group show no signs at this point. However, they are aiming to tranquilize all of them and take blood samples to check liver function. They will do this to catch any onset of symptoms and treat it as early as possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cBears are tough and often don\u2019t show signs until the illness is in an advanced state. If you can assist with veterinary costs, we would very much appreciate your help,\u201d the post added.<\/p>\n
Shelter owner Angelika Langen said they are heartbroken.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re about four weeks away from release,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t have words.\u201d<\/p>\n
ORIGINAL STORY:<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear how, but five bears in captivity died suddenly this week.<\/p>\n
The Northern Lights Wildlife Society, based in Smithers, said it found four of its bears dead Monday morning in their enclosures. A fifth showing signs of illness died Wednesday morning, despite treatment attempt.<\/p>\n
\u201cNecropsies showed acute liver failure, but no clues as to why,\u201d the society said on its social media page. \u201cWe are now anxiously awaiting lab results.\u201d<\/p>\n
To be safe, the shelter is under quarantine at least until results are returned. All other bears appear unaffected so far.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, the society is saddened by the loss.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are all under shock and devastated.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the bears was Stout, who came from Vernon. Gimlet, from Trail, also died. And three bears from Dawson Creek \u2013 Kokanee, Bacardi and Mimosa \u2013 all died.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have faced hard times and loss before, but this is way out there,\u201d the Society said.<\/p>\n
-with files from Marisca Bakker<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"5 bears die at B.C. wildlife rescue, possibly from parasite Published 7:00 am Sunday, April 26, 2026 UPDATE:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":630116,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[49,48,87674],"class_list":{"0":"post-630115","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-surrey","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-surrey"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=630115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/630116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=630115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=630115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=630115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}