We don’t know what to make of the bears
September 16, 2010 – 9:10 PM CDT
We don’t know what to make of the bears. I guess that’s why we’re doing research. We’re all learning from the bears together. You’d think we’d know some of this stuff after 44 years, but it’s only this year that we have had GPS units on a number of bears. Only now can we see the detail that we missed with simple radio-tracking before. It’s obvious the bears are slowing down and resting a lot, especially the pregnant ones, but then they confuse us by making another move, and another. And we may come to recognize this as common pre-denning behavior. It will all become clearer in hindsight in a few weeks.
Today we stopped receiving locations from Jo’s GPS unit. Had the unit quit? Had her collar turned so it was under her chin? Was she in a den? No way to tell without locating her—so we did. We found her in a deep bed at the base of a tamarack tree at the edge of a swamp. She was very relaxed as we approached. Her GPS had quit so we replaced it with a new one.
Our worries about the bear hunt are waning. Our concern is turning toward which bears will den in suitable places for den cams. Always in the back of our mind when watching the movements on the computer screen is how close the roads are and how possible it might be to place a den cam.
We feel spoiled with the treats you’re sending but that’s no reason to stop. I guess feeling cared for is a more accurate statement—the same as when we meet Lily fans at the Bear Center and can immediately start talking stuff we are all up to speed about. Looking forward to the next Lilypad Picnic already. The planners are starting on it and want to make it bigger and better, if that’s possible.
And wow! We just checked the WRI thermometer. You have been working and giving! Your $10,199 (and counting) will make a difference in protecting the bears next hunting season. We want to buy additional telemetry equipment to intensify radio-tracking, and we want to buy enough GPS units for all the radio-collared bears.
And then we see the letters you’re writing to protect the bears. We’re wondering if you’re getting responses. Asking the person’s position on protection might be interesting to know and might help prompt a response. Our main hope is that Commissioner Holsten issues a Commissioner’s Order to protect radio-collared bears wearing brightly colored ribbons in central St Louis County. We are preparing a detailed request to send him tomorrow on that. We hope we can meet with him and come to an agreement.
The Education Outreach is progressing with people working quietly behind the scenes making things, putting lesson plans together, and bringing in new people with new ideas for spreading the good word about bears.
A reporter from the Minneapolis Star Tribune spent some time with us today. We wanted to talk about protecting radio-collared bears, but his main interest was trying to understand the Lily and Hope phenomenon. He wondered what our secret was to create such interest in two bears. We told him the truth. There is no secret. We had no inkling what was about to happen. We simply put a den cam in Lily’s den to learn. We made it available through the Internet, hoping there would be people out there who shared our interest. Our main interest was to be good spokespeople for bears, but we didn’t even know enough to start a Facebook page. Someone in South Africa did that. We saw your questions. We wanted to share what the bears have taught us. We began writing updates. And we all learned together and became like a big family. He asked about the donations. We told him how you saw various needs and wanted to help. He wondered how we ever would have paid down the Bear Center debt without you. We said we had no plans except to be frugal and do the best we could. He was amazed at your power to vote benefits to the community. He wondered why you voted for the park and the schools and the coolest town. We told him you wanted to help the area where Lily and Hope live and show your appreciation for what the bears are revealing to all of us. We hope the many benefits you are providing for this area will be evident to the people who can make decisions to protect the research bears.
All we can say is a big thank you again for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center