Lily and Three Cubs! - UPDATE May 28, 2015
Three cubs. It felt good to finally get the call confirming that they are alright. She and the cubs were at the feeding site where Lily felt most comfortable last year. She had put her cubs up a tree within sight of the feeding area rather than leaving them deep in the woods as mothers often do this time of year. She was beautiful with a smooth dense black coat setting off her light muzzle. Two of the cubs let us take a picture but the third one was shy. We couldn’t determine the sexes.
Last evening, Lily finally made a move to a place where she would be seen.Last evening at WRI, 1-year-old Lorie (Samantha’s daughter) was treed by gentle 3-year-old Sophie (Juliet’s daughter), who can be assertive with bears.
We have to change some of our records from the past few weeks and have to admit that we misidentified a couple bears in the updates. The females we saw together some weeks ago that we thought were be Sophie and Sybil were Sophie and Fern. The female without hair on her face is Fern. The bear we had called Fern was Sophie. Everything is straight now.
At the Bear Center today, Donna and I got together with our friends former DNR Commissioner Allen Garber and his wife Kim. In the background is the beautiful new sign, just put up, for the entrance to the Northwoods Ecology Hall.
Little Lorie is here as I write this.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center