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Bill and Bears - UPDATE May 17, 2015

RC, Heinrik and VeronicaRC, Heinrik and VeronicaFrom what we hear from the inside, we are optimistic that the bear-feeding language will be removed from HF846. But with the DNR involved, we won’t be sure until the last gavel falls. I’ll hear tomorrow.

The bear RC was challenging in the picture last night was wrongly labeled Aster. It’s Aster’s brother Aspen. It has been fixed.

More on sweet Samantha. Family break-up apparently happened. The last time we saw the family together was at 10:50 PM on May 15. Last evening (May 16), Samantha was here alone 3 times between 7:45 and 11:25 PM. At 11:40 PM, the two yearlings showed up together without Samantha and were very skittish as is common for yearlings newly on their own. Yearlings usually split from each other around the time they split from the mother, and sure enough, one of them was here alone at 9:05 AM today (May 17). Our best guess: family break-up occurred last evening near here.

When Samantha was here alone, I didn’t think to check her for estrus. Now we may not see her for awhile because females commonly roam after family break-up, laying down scent trails to attract males. On the other hand, 4-year-old male Aspen is right here, so you never know.

Meanwhile, RC and her yearlings Heinrik and Veronica stopped by and showed us they are still together. They weigh 252 (RC), 82 (Heinrik), and 81 (Veronica).

The feeding stations are a big help in determining dates of family break-up. Even with that help, it takes years to get a solid data base on events that happen only every other year for an individual and are precisely documented far less than that. Back in the days of radio-collars, we tried to pinpoint family break-up by visiting each family as often as possible when we thought break-up was imminent. Even so, we scarcely witnessed it and usually couldn’t pin it down to a particular day. That said, trust-based observations enabled us to unprecedented data on family break-up—a topic we are anxious to publish. We’re looking forward to being past the legal and legislative distractions the DNR’s shenanigans have provided us. We’re glad Lily Fans stepped up to help get us through the recent legislative challenge to data collection. We’re waiting for the legislative session to end Monday night to know where we stand for future research, etc.

The Northwoods Ecology Hall continues to move forward no matter what. Many Lily Fans are doing their parts to open it as soon as possible.

By popular demand, we’re going to try to get the daily updates out earlier. The down side of that for me is that when bears arrive in the evening while I’m writing the update and feel like you all are with me sharing the experience, I’ll have to wait until the next day to share the excitement and photos of those evenings.

Thank you for all you do.

Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center

All photos taken today unless otherwise noted.


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