Download Patholgocial conditions of the digestive system

Incidental Findings in Subsistence Harvested Southern Beaufort Sea Polar bears:
Pathological Conditions of the Digestive System
Raphaela Stimmelmayr, Billy Adams, Gay Sheffield, Robert Sarren, Harry Brower and Taqulik Hepa. Department of Wildlife Management, North Slope Borough, Barrow, Alaska 99723.
Email: [email protected]
Background: Polar bears of the Southern Beaufort and
Chukchi Sea are an important subsistence food and culturalspiritual resources for Inuit and Siberian Yupik communities.
General knowledge about diseases and natural causes of
morbidity and mortality among free-ranging polar bears in
the Circumpolar Arctic is very limited. To address this data
gap community based monitoring efforts of polar bear
subsistence harvest
on the North Slope have been
intensified in recent years to support a comprehensive health
assessment. Since 2011 a total of 24 mostly subadult polar
bears (males: 21; females:3) were grossly examined as part
of the North Slope Marine Mammal Health Research
Program.
Stomach/Intestines lesions (3/24)
Dental lesions (3/24)
Biliary Lesions (2/24)
Pica (3/24)
Ongoing WORK
Prioritization of ongoing retrospective and prospective analyses for
available archival tissues (~ 1980-2015) from subsistence
harvested Polar bears:
• Gross & histopathological evaluation;
• PCR based infectious Disease investigation
• Harmful Algae biotoxin and Parasite surveillance
• Contaminant and biomarker assessment
Funding for this project is provided by Coastal Impact Assessment Program Marine Mammal Health and NSB Department of Wildlife Management. We thank the hunters of Barrow, Kaktovik, Point Hope
and Wainwright for allowing us to conduct the study and using subsistence harvested Polar bears. Without their efforts and co-operation, this study would not have been possible. Marine Mammal
tissue collection was conducted under USFWS MA135907-1.