Question:
I'm writing a poster for an exhibit at the North American Bear Center about whether bears feel pain. Hunters always say bears don't feel pain like we do, so it is OK to shoot, trap and pepper them with fine shot or buckshot, etc. Have you ever written anything on this subject or had any thoughts we could use?
L.R., Ely, MN Aug 16, 2009
Answer:
I commend the bear center for decades of excellent conservation and public-education efforts on behalf of wild bears that should be left in peace and have their habitats restored and protected.
All mammals have the same basic pain pathways and brain centers to help protect the body naturally from injury. Some species, like some individuals, may have higher or lower pain thresholds. But pain is pain, whichever way you cut it. And all animals, bears and humans alike, respond with avoidance and distress/alarm vocalizations. There is a physiological release of natural opiates/endorphins that occurs in all species reacting to pain in order to dampen the intensity. This enables them to escape or defend themselves rather than being totally incapacitated. In addition, the adrenal glands are stimulated to produce adrenalin to mobilize fright, flight or fight responses.
A byproduct of pain and injury, fear is tied to the release of noradrenalin, a component of the flight response, which can cause sudden death when intense. Autonomic (involuntary) responses indicative of pain and fear also occur, including elevation of temperature, metabolism, heart rate and blood pressure, urination, defecation, erection of hair, dilation of pupils and shivering.
Prolonged fear -- in a wounded bear, in one being tracked and hunted with dogs, or in one caught in a trap -- would result in the production of corticosteroid hormones from the adrenal glands, and fear- and anxiety-suppressing chemicals from the brain called benzodiazepines. These neurochemicals, along with elevated levels of cortisol in the blood, are indicative of extreme duress and should not be interpreted as helping make the sufferer, human or nonhuman, feel good. In such a state, the body's resources are rapidly depleted, especially liver glycogen, with lactic acid building up in the muscles and with the stress on the adrenal glands and other organ systems, especially the heart and immune systems. Sudden death or subsequent infection is a likely outcome for animals that are not instantly killed by "sports" hunters.
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