Lisa McLoughlin
A brown bear cub was rescued in Turkey on Thursday (11 August) after they consumed an excessive amount of 'mad honey'.
Mad honey, known as deli bal in Turkish, is produced in small quantities by beekeepers in high-altitude forested areas such as the Kaçkar mountains above the Black Sea.
If the bees feed on enough rhododendron nectar, which produces a potent neurotoxin called grayanotoxin, the mud-red honey they produce will have a sharp scent and bitter taste.
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Aside from how it would hit the senses, deli bal, which is only produced in Turkey and at the foothills of the Himalayas, is widely used in traditional medicine and as a recreational drug for younger consumers.
It is said that ingesting a small spoonful of it or taken with hot water or boiled milk gives the consumer a sense of euphoria and sometimes even hallucinations.
In Turkey, it is also used as a traditional treatment for a multitude of ailments such as hypertension, impotence, gastrointestinal and metabolic diseases.
However, too much can reduce blood pressure to potentially dangerous levels and induce nausea, fainting, seizures, arrhythmia and, in rare cases, death.
In fact, dozens of people a year are admitted to hospital in Turkey for mad honey poisoning – and now, so has a brown bear cub.
Video footage shows the visibly disorientated female bear unable to hold her balance as she attempts to sit belly-up in the back of a truck.
The animal was transported to the vehicle by locals who rescued her from a forest in Turkey’s Duzce province after she was believed to have become intoxicated eating the controversial honey.
Officials at Turkey’s ministry for agriculture have said that the animal was in a good condition after being treated by a vet and would likely be released back into the wild in the coming days.
Interestingly, mad honey’s hallucinogenic effects have been documented for thousands of years and were once discussed by Greek philosopher and military leader Xenophon.
Describing the impact of eating the nectar on soldiers during an expedition in 401 BC, he penned: "The number of bee-hives was extraordinary, and all the soldiers that ate of the combs, lost their senses ... none of them were able to stand upright."
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