Visitors to Alaska's Denali National Park this summer may be able to catch a glimpse of something you don't see every day: a three-pawed grizzly bear.
A picture of the bear shows it to be missing about half of its right front leg.
"We call him Tri-pawed," park biologist Pat Owen told the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. "He kind of hops around."
The bear, the first Owen has seen missing a paw in 23 years with the Park Service, was first spotted in the park last year, when the wound was still bloody, she told the paper. She wondered at that time whether the injury would prevent the bear from getting food, digging its winter den or defending itself.
But it seems to have done just fine, she said.
One person at the park even saw the bear leap a highway guardrail, Owen told the Daily News-Miner.
"They said he looked very agile. I don't think he has any trouble getting around," she was quoted as saying.
Owen said park officials don't know how the bear was injured, but did not think it was from a trap because the wound was a clean cut.
The Park Service won't track the bear and won't do anything special to help it, she said. While the grizzly is listed as a threatened species in the lower 48 states, there are about 30,000 grizzlies in Alaska, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
"For now, we'll let him do his thing and see what happens," Owen told the Daily News-Miner. But she said that if the grizzly is still around when visitor season opens on May 20, the park may post signs so rangers won't have to repeatedly answer the same questions about it.
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This is weird...how would a person catch a grizzly and cut its leg off?? They're huge animals. I wonder if he got his leg run over by a train, or a sharp rock fell on it??? Hmmmmm. Good to see he's suviving though.
his leg was caught in a trap and he ate his arm off to get out.
the bear messed with me on a hunting trip. i had no choice but to wrestle it man on bear. It lost.
Whoa! Settle down. Read the article for what it's worth.
why is this national news
he looks so thin
All bears are thin this time of year. Long winter.
"Owen said park officials don't know how the bear was injured, but did not think it was from a trap because the wound was a clean cut."
So...the bear amputated his own arm? Or maybe some bear paw poacher sawed it off? Does Denali have laser fences now?
Looks like another innocent victim of human kind....
He is a disabled bear...we should give him benefits and set him up in a zoo with a view!
He looks thin because bears are coming out of winter hibernation. All bears are thin when they come out, they immediately go looking for food when they come out in the spriing. His coat looks healthy and his weight looks good for post hibernation.
@gung hoe, perhaps Mrs. Bear chewed it off because he kept lying to her?????
Was Ted Nugent in the area? I hear he enjoys maiming wildlife.
It was a trap with the grids they make a clean cut, trapping needs to be banned. How cruel they are.
He may have gotten in a fight with another bear or got it caught and chewed it off. Try to be positive. Hes doing good thats all that matters. There are 3 legged deer here in Texas because they get their legs caught in fences. They do just fine. Humans lose their limbs too in accidents and war. Its part of life.
That's not the only mamma grizzly that doesn't have a leg to stand on
A three legged Bear walks into a saloon, Raises up on its hind legs and shouts "I'm lookin’ for the man who shot my Paw!" Seriously though, somebody check Ted Nugent's trunk.
You might have a chance outrunning it, a slight chance. More ppl are hurt by Bison than any other animal in Yellowstone.
It was Chinese monks I telz you. I head tell that the head master told his students they could find wisdom in the sound of one hand clapping. They started with the janitor Chang, but they could not hear it. So, one student said "why not a big bear.” Long story short master isn’t happy.