Doctors have discovered that Tilapia skin, which is a type of fish, can help heal burn victims, according to mnn.com.

The California Thomas Fire in 2017 had affected two adult bears, one being pregnant, and a five month old cougar. When doctors found the animals, they took them into the vet and found they they had third degree burns on their paws, according to National Geographic.

Instead of wrapping their paws with the traditional bandages, they turned to another cure, Tilapia Skin bandages, stated National Geographic. A  UC Davis vet has said that the fish skin can help the burns heal faster than any normal bandage.

According to Peyton, a vet helping these two bears, “…we couldn’t put on any type of bandage material they would eat,” because that might cause intestinal obstruction. Also, she said, “if a bandage comes off, you can’t really go into the cage to get it.”

Washington Post has stated, “Like the pig and human tissues that have long been applied to burns, the fish skin is moist and transfers collagen, a protein that helps healing. But it’s cheaper and widely available, because it’s a byproduct of tilapia sold as food.”

This fish skin has already been used to treat burn victims in Brazil, so the vet had already known the cure would work.

“Peyton and her husband visited the local fish market to buy live tilapia. Once they skinned the fish and ate the meat (as to not waste it), they sterilized the skin for several days, modeling the same cold sterilization protocol that’s used for skin grafts on people,”according to nationalgeographic.com.

In addition to the fish skin, the vet had also done acupuncture and cold laser therapy on the animals for a better healing process, stated National Geographic.

Thanks to  the tilapia skin, the bears healed, and were soon able to walk again.