Conscious Indirect Blood Pressure Measurements in Asiatic Black Bears (Ursus thibetanus)

Sep 30, 2026

Uploaded by Stanford

At Animals Asia’s Vietnam Bear Rescue Center (VBRC), 40% of bears have systemic hypertension, which can lead to fatal outcomes such as aortic aneurysm and rupture. Historically, diagnosis relied on validated secondary structural lesions in anesthetized animals during annual health checks. Beginning in 2021, VBRC trained bears to perform cooperative conscious blood pressure measurements to enable more frequent monitoring and faster diagnosis. This study evaluated a noninvasive oscillometric indirect method in trained Asiatic black bears, validating it against direct arterial measurements.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages9

Reading Time23 min

AccessFree to download

Simple Summary

Abstract

Keywords

1. Introduction

Article Conscious Indirect Blood Pressure Measurements in Asiatic Black Bears (Ursus thibetanus) Grace M. Scrafford 1,*, O. Lynne Nelson 1,*, Rachel Sanki 2, Sarah van Herpt 2 and David Rice 3 Academic Editor: José RaduanJaber Mohamad Received: 21 November 2025 Revised: 23 December 2025 Accepted: 30 December 2025 Published: 5 January 2026 Copyright: © 2026 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. 1 College of Veterinary Medicine, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99163, USA 2 Vietnam Bear Rescue Center, Hồ Sơn, Tam Ðảo National Park, Tam Dao 283600, Vĩnh Phúc, Vietnam; [rachel.sanki@outlook.com](rachel.sanki@outlook.com) (R.S.); [svanherpt@animalsasia.org](svanherpt@animalsasia.org) (S.v.H.) 3 Center for Interdisciplinary Statistical Education and Research, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99163, USA; [david.rice@wsu.edu](david.rice@wsu.edu) * Correspondence: [grace.scrafford@wsu.edu](grace.scrafford@wsu.edu) (G.M.S.); [olnelson@wsu.edu](olnelson@wsu.edu) (O.L.N.) Simple Summary At Animals Asia’s Vietnam Bear Rescue Center, 40% of bears are diagnosed with systemic hypertension (high blood pressure in the arterial system) and require daily medication to manage it. Veterinarians have only been able to diagnose systemic hypertension in this population during health checks while animals are under anesthesia. Anesthetic drugs used have the potential to confound results of blood pressure measurements; for that reason, hypertension is diagnosed through validated secondary structural lesions. Recently, bears at the rescue center in Vietnam have been trained for cooperative conscious blood pressure measurements. Using direct arterial catheterization, this study validated indirect blood pressure measurements and then used this indirect method to determine normal ranges of blood pressure measurements in conscious, trained bears. This will allow for early diagnosis of systemic hypertension and improve the ability to evaluate protocols used for treatment. This knowledge will improve the quality of care for the hundreds of bears rescued from the bile industry and for other captive bears worldwide. Abstract At Animals Asia’s Vietnam Bear Rescue Center (VBRC), 40% of the current population has been diagnosed with systemic hypertension. Systemic hypertension lesions have led to fatal consequences in the form of aortic aneurysm and rupture. Historically, veterinarians were only able to diagnose systemic hypertension by identifying validated secondary structural heart and retinal lesions during annual health checks of anesthetized bears. In 2021, the VBRC began training bears for cooperative conscious blood pressure measurements to increase monitoring frequency and expedite the diagnosis of systemic hypertension in affected bears. The objective of this study was to evaluate a noninvasive method of blood pressure measurement in trained, cooperative Asiatic black bears. Indirect blood pressure measurements, using the oscillometric technique, were validated with direct arterial measurements in nine bears (6 male, 3 female, ages 13–22 years) undergoing anesthesia for annual health checks. Eleven trained bears at the VBRC without secondary lesions of systemic hypertension (6 male, 5 female, ages 7–23 years) were used to develop normal systolic ranges for Asiatic black bears using the indirect technique. Mean blood pressure measurements for this group of trained bears (n = 11) were 180.65 +/− 37 mmHg (95% CI: 126–255) systolic. These results suggest that indirect blood pressures may be a useful tool to monitor blood pressure in cooperative conscious bears at the VBRC. Keywords: aortic aneurysm; Asiatic black bear; bear bile; blood pressure measurement; systemic hypertension; animal welfare; Ursus thibetanus 1. Introduction Bear bile has been used in traditi

FAQs

Why is systemic hypertension a major concern in bears at the VBRC?

Systemic hypertension affects 40% of the VBRC bear population and is linked to fatal events such as aortic aneurysm and rupture.

How have veterinarians traditionally diagnosed systemic hypertension in this setting?

Diagnosis has relied on identifying validated secondary structural heart and retinal lesions during annual health checks performed under anesthesia.

What method did the study use to measure blood pressure in conscious cooperative bears?

The study used a noninvasive oscillometric technique to obtain indirect blood pressure measurements in trained, cooperative Asiatic black bears.

Sep 30, 2026

Uploaded by Stanford