Had bare spots – so Ice Bear in Chicago is allergic to people

The nurses in the Zoo of Lincoln Park have been surprised for several years that “Siku” had bald spots in his fur, as the BBC broadcaster reported. He rubbed objects in his housing to scratch himself: the polar bear clearly suffered from a painful itch.

Human Main Roos Triggers Comments
After the skin and allergy tests were performed, it turned out that the animal at home mites and different types of pollen. His allergic reaction to human main barns, however, was particularly dramatic.

“Siku” can be seen in this Facebook message:

Some experts suspect that animals in farms and zoos are more often influenced by allergies because they live in an environment created by people. They are less confronted with parasites and bacteria, to which they would be exposed in the wild. In this way, according to the theory, the immune system would have an imbalance.

When training with the polar bears, the trainer pays attention to wearing gloves, as you can see in this post:

Allergies such as side effect of better hygiene
An allergy is an overreaction of the body to actually harmless substances such as plant pollen or food such as nuts. Annette Petersen, veterinarian and dermatologist at Michigan State University, told BBC that zoo residents are being fed with parasite -free food. However, they do not incur bacteria with the food they protect against diseases or allergies in the wilderness. The allergy is therefore a side effect of the hygienic living conditions in captivity.

In the meantime, “Sikus” has a good grip on “Sikus”. He received a combination of allergy -retaining substances that were given to him with honey. This cocktail is intended to help the animal get used to its environment. In later tests that were performed, the polar bear responded much weaker to the allergy -retaining substances.