Mother checking on cub - WRI File PhotoWith the bear-hunting season past its second weekend and small game season only 4 days away, we’re trying to catch up on overdue tasks. No sign of hunters today.
We’re sad about the loss of two bears we knew (Lorie and Keefer) but thankful it was only two.
The crew is checking trail cams for the latest on bears including Lily and her cubs. They were last photographed a couple days ago two minutes before the crew arrived to switch cards.
We’re putting out feelers to take in an injured cub that may be unreleasable. A problem is that the cub is in Minnesota, and you know the history of our requests in this state.
A hiker concerned about attacks by mothers with cubs asked two experienced bear experts if a person should be quiet or noisy while hiking. One said quiet and the other said noisy. Why the difference? As with most advice about bears, there has never been a study to determine what is right. Advice is tossed around. Some gains momentum and becomes standard. My advice would have been that it doesn’t make much difference what you do. People have done everything all over the board, and attacks are rare no matter what.
On one subject, there is a bit of data. If a person sees a black bear mother with cubs, should the person stay on the ground or climb a tree? The real answer is that attacks by black bear mothers with cubs are rare no matter what. But what is best? The data are sparse enough that person can’t say for certain, but through last year I knew of only a half dozen attacks on the ground but at least a dozen where a mother bear went up a tree after someone. The sound of climbing alerts mothers with cubs. The best example of that is my climbing a big white pine a hundred yards or so from a mother with cubs and seeing her come on a run and leap up the tree and climb fast toward me. The mother was one I frequently walked with for 24 hours at a time. She knew me. I said, “It’s me, bear.” She stopped. Thinking she would be okay with it, I climbed farther. She hurried up higher. I stopped and said “It’s me bear” again. She stopped. I climbed farther. She came up and sniffed my foot and went back down to her cubs. I was high enough to take the scenery picture I wanted, so I clicked and went down myself. But the sound of climbing triggered in her a strong urge to check it out. So, if pressed, I would say a person is better off just watching a mother with cubs from the ground, but attacks are very rare no matter what.
It is a joy to go around in Ely. So many people, especially business owners, stop to say how much they appreciate what we do. As Lily Fans know, this is partly because they (the Lily Fans) come to Ely and eat, sleep, use outfitters, and buy gifts. In this depressed economy, Lily Fans are much appreciated, and that"s what is behind the good words I hear.
Also, thank you for your donations for bear food that are especially needed this year of scarce natural food when more bears than usual came to the community feeding sites.
Thank you for all you do.
Lynn Rogers, Biologist, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center