No, it’s the 18th
November 23, 2010 – 8:25 PM CST
December 15th turned out to have overwhelming conflicts, so the team moved the install date for the Lily and Hope cam(s) to December 18 with the 19th as a backup if needed. The reason we say cam(s) is we are considering a second camera outside Lily and Hope’s den to see what animals come by to check them out overwinter. We may see how passing predators respond to the cries of cubs, and what Lily and Hope do if they come out like Lily did last year as she approached delivery. Excitement mounts.
The picture is four more cheerful Bear Center elves. These are Cashier Kathy Kerns, Program Director Sharon Herrell, Cashier Micki Papesh, Office Assistant Missy Heitala, and (kneeling) Operations Assistant Judy McClure.
No bear news again, so it’s a short passage from Chapter 1—the chapter on bear language. We are still in the harmless bluster section of it. Here’s the story:
In 44 years of meeting dozens of adult males, two seemed to be unusually aggressive, at least until I understood them better. In 1985, Big John showed up 10 times at a U. S. Forest Service diversionary feeding site I maintained 25 feet from my office window. He was a puzzle. Before he would come into view, he would spend maybe a half hour back in the woods huffing—a sign of fear. But whenever he’d see me through the window, he’d rush at it and slam his paws against it—loud. Scary. But slamming the paws like that could just be harmless bluster, so I checked. I went outside and walked toward him in plain view. He retreated and huffed in fear. He was never a threat.
I last saw Big John on July 18, 1985. Earlier, I had caught him in a live trap (barrel trap) and ear-tagged him in case he rushed someone else’s window. If a landowner shot him, I wanted the tag and the story. But there was no further word on him until a hunter sent in his ear-tag. He had shot Big John uneventfully on September 6, 1986, 108 miles away.
This was a nice story on the Duluth Channel 6 last night: http://www.northlandsnewscenter.com/news/local/Nature-Matters-November-Visitors-to-the-Bear-Center-109918854.html .
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center