Sad news from Chemnitz Zoo: Sloth bear Bhima died of a malignant tumour
Chemnitz Zoo Director Dr Anja Dube has some sad news to announce today: "On Wednesday, our sloth bear Bhima sadly passed away. Bhima (photo) was born in Leipzig in 1993 and had lived with us at Chemnitz Zoo since 2007." An examination in 2011 revealed that the bear was suffering from chronic stomach and intestinal inflammation, which was presumably immunological or allergic in origin. Since then, she has been treated with medication to stimulate her appetite and inhibit inflammation and the symptoms initially improved significantly: Bhima ate well and also put on weight. Since March of this year, however, Bhima increasingly refused to eat and withdrew to her indoor enclosure more and more often.
Concerned about the conspicuously quiet bear Bhima and in order to clarify the cause of her condition, the zoo experts decided to examine the bear with X-rays, ultrasound and a blood sample under anaesthetic. However, according to vet Dr Peggy Riedel, the examination scheduled for last Tuesday (6 May) could not be carried out as the anaesthetic did not cause the bear to sleep sufficiently. The sick bear Bhima died the following night (7 May). According to pathology findings, the cause of the animal's poor general condition in the last few days and the anaesthetic complications was a malignant tumour in the abdominal cavity.
Experts know that wild animals unfortunately only show clear symptoms at the end of their illness. A tumour also grows without visible clinical signs in the early stages until it reaches a size at which it displaces vital organs or significantly impairs their function. Unfortunately, surgery is not possible at this stage of the disease.
According to zoo manager Dube, the only bear left at Chemnitz Zoo is Bodo, who shares the enclosure with five macaque bears. As sloth bears are solitary animals, this is not a problem for the time being.