The Mysterious Case Of Brown Grizzly Bears With Missing Toes

With so many strange and interesting happenings around the world, bears mysteriously missing toes would seem unlikely. Firstly, depending on the location, a bear sighting is a rare occurrence and will be a memory to cherish. But seeing a bear with missing toes – now that’s worth spiking anyone’s interest and curiosity.

Don’t be surprised to encounter a brown grizzly bear when hiking in the woods. These fur-filled animals, living in the forest and mountainous regions, are strong and intimidating.

Grizzly bears once lived plentifully across western North America, even as far south as Mexico. Sadly, they lost their habitat when European settlements and aggressive hunting eliminated most of the population.

The distinctive features of grizzly bears are their strong, powerful shoulder hump and very large claws. Grizzly bears have 20 digits. Their front claws are curved, sturdy, and large, measuring at least 2-4 inches (5-10cm) long. 

The size, power, and intelligence of grizzlies intrigue biologists, scientists, and conservationists. The pursuit to know more about their wildlife, personality traits, behavior, and habitat quality has driven these experts to conduct scientific research on them.

Sometime in 2016, it was just another day for exploration for wildlife scientist Clayton Lamb at Fernia, a ski resort in the mountains of British Columbia. The wildlife scientist was trapping grizzly bears for a research project to understand their survival and movement in southeast British Columbia.

Like any fight for dominance or survival, grizzly bears are not immune. They can become defensive and dangerous when provoked or threatened, and their fights can result in grievous injuries or death. With their sheer size and sharp claws, an opponent who goes against a grizzly is unlikely to walk away without getting hurt.

Admittedly, these huge solitary animals can get injured in a fight for dominance, food, or territory. However, Lamb was perplexed when he encountered another bear with missing toes. While doing his fieldwork for his Ph.D., at the University of Alberta, four bears popped up in the province’s Elk valley region sporting similarly mangled paws.

Lamb and his colleagues launched a half-decade investigation to unravel the mystery behind the grizzly trend. At first, they wondered if grizzlies were born without paws, and they discussed this assumption with wildlife veterinarians. But, they ruled out birth defects or exposure to some type of toxin as the cause.

Apparently, the fractures detected from the x-ray were too straight for the toes to be mauled by an animal. S0 something must have torn off the paws of these bears, and Lamb was determined to find the “what.”

Lamb and his team were determined to get evidence to establish that the baited traps were the potential culprit. To this end, Lamb set up an experiment by installing motion-sensor cameras near four traps that were tweaked to remain open, to prevent snapping any toes of the grizzlies.

Two weeks later, the camera footage showed bears sticking their paws and noses on the traps. All four traps were visited by grizzly bears, tripping two of them. Bewildered, Lamb wondered if a trap meant for tiny creatures would hurt an animal as big as a grizzly.

From the test, the team discovered that traps weren’t strong enough to rip off a bear’s toes instantly. Instead, the trapping device would cut off blood circulation in the toe, causing the tissues to die. Eventually, the toes would rot away after several painful weeks/months or be gnawed by the bears.

Certainly, these traps could cause problems for the bears. Accidentally amputated toes could have consequences for the area’s human population too. However, they weren’t that serious an issue to cause population decline. 

Certainly, these injuries affect human-bear coexistence, too. Injured bears without the full use of their paws to dig for food become more aggressive in pursuit of their meal. For that reason, they can be dangerous.

In the bid to proffer solutions to this problem, some suggested that the traps be anchored so that bears could pull out their toes instead of carrying away the traps. However, Lamb and his team tested this theory by placing a dead grizzly’s leg into a better-anchored trap. They found it wasn’t always easy to pull the leg out.

Another suggestion was to ban the fall trapping season by two weeks until the end of November and the beginning of December. As this was the period when grizzlies are still active. However, some tappers and those in the fur business pushed back on the idea.

Lamb also suggested a different trap with a smaller, constricted entrance so most bear paws could not fit inside to grab the bait. The opening would be big enough for a marten to squeeze through but too small for a grizzly’s foot.

Based on these investigations and guidance from this brilliant wildlife scientist and colleagues, in 2021, the southeast British Columbia wildlife officials started requiring that all body-gripping traps deployed in November must be enclosed inside a box with an opening large enough for a marten to wriggle through. But, it had to be small enough to admit a bear paw.

While the rules have already been enforced to reduce trap entrances in November, people still flout the rules. “The main goal here is to keep bear toes out of traps,” Lamb said. “If we could find a solution to keep trappers trapping and bear toes safe, that’s great.”

Thanks to the recently published research in the scientific publication Wildlife Society, the issue with accidental amputation of grizzly bear toes have identified, and there is an urge for immediate action to be taken.