You’ve got questions; the bear has answers. Bear Month 2025 is here, and that means that our resident bruin advice columnist is once again fielding your queries about bear biology, safety, and more. Read on for the latest, or check out the rest of our Bear Month stories.
Q: Can you get rabies like raccoons, bats, or skunks? — Rabid Fan
A: A little germ, take big, bad me down? Well, yes. We bears aren’t as invincible as our PR team makes us out to be. We can get rabies, but it’s quite rare.
Let’s get scientific for a second: The rabies virus is mainly transmitted through saliva, like the common cold or flu. However, we bears aren’t Frenching our way into a brain-baking demise. One way we could get infected is if a rabid animal bites or scratches us. But that doesn’t happen very often. (Not to brag, but we’re strong enough that it takes a lot for another animal to land a blow on us.)
Still, we do occasionally go rabid. Just this year, a black bear in Pennsylvania tested positive after attacking a man on a walking trail. And in February 2023, locals noticed that a Connecticut bear that had come out of hibernation early was failing to run off in the presence of humans and dragging the left side of its body—both signs of the virus. Biologists later confirmed the poor guy had a strain of rabies similar to one recovered from a New England raccoon.
Could you catch rabies from a bear? It’s possible, but not likely. This virus affects mammals, which you and I both are. Rabies is also zoonotic, meaning it can make the jump from animals to humans. Unlike bats, raccoons, wolves, and skunks, though, bears aren’t a reservoir for the virus, meaning it doesn’t typically live and multiply in our systems like it does for those sorry suckers.
Before you retire your hiking boots for good, know that rabies is extremely rare in the U.S., with just 1 to 3 human cases each year. Plus, infection’s entirely preventable through vaccinations, as long as you get them before developing symptoms. And people catching rabies from a bear? As far as we can tell, it’s never happened.
Some advice for you humans: Remember Old Yeller? That whole “frothing at the mouth” bit is pretty rare to see in a rabid animal. But if you see one of us acting strangely, stumbling like we’re drunk, dragging limbs, or oddly agitated, keep your distance and call your local wildlife authorities.
The bottom line is that we bears don’t want to go out with a silly little virus. We prefer to die the honorable way: In a fierce brawl for the best angling spot on the river. — BEAR
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