With the Day of the Den Cam before us, people are down to asking exactly what time people will arrive, cooking chili and muffins to eat, and wondering what has been forgotten. We got a bit of a scare today as we anxiously waited for UPS to deliver the cameras sent by PixController. The hours marched by with no delivery. We all heaved a sigh of relief when the UPS truck pulled up at 6:02 PM! We don’t think the UPS driver had any clue what was in his truck—and what it meant to so many people around the world. The boxes of equipment are pictured amidst a scene of neglected housework.
We’ll take pictures to post. The forecast is for 0.3 inches of ice, but it takes more than a little ice to stop us. Momentum is on. People didn’t fly to Minneapolis and drive hundreds of miles to Ely to be daunted by weather. Determined Donna will be there, and nothing stops her.
The team includes Doug Hajicek of White Wolf Entertainment. He put the technical group together both last year and this. He and Joe Frascella of Metro Moulded Parts, Inc., custom made some of the equipment. Bill Powers of Pix Controller of Pennsylvania put most of the electronic equipment together—including the cameras. Bill is known as a leader in this branch of electronics. Jim Stroner of Digi International obtained and installed solar panels, batteries, and other power equipment a couple weeks ago with help from Jason Sawyer and Sue Mansfield. Bill Rice of Ritron Corporation did many calculations of power needs, and he made and donated the back-up gasoline-powered generator system. Jason Sawyer and Charlie Meyer helped install the power equipment a few weeks ago. Yesterday, Charlie plowed several miles of road to reduce the distance we have to travel by snowmobile in the forecasted weather. Jason will be in the field tomorrow to help, along with Sue and Lynn. David Hoole of Channel 6, Duluth, will be there taking video. Jim Martin of Whitewolf Entertainment will be there to get material to publicize the den cam. Lynn and Sue will be the familiar voices at the den to place the cameras.
The excitement is building—after several delays, the Den Cam install day is nearly here!
Today, we had a chance to talk to someone in the know about the black bears that supposedly were guarding marijuana fields in British Columbia and whose lives were spared by the efforts of people like you. Until recently, we only saw the newspaper reports and couldn’t comment.
What we learned today is that the bears were not fenced in and were not guarding fields of marijuana as had been reported. The marijuana was a small patch inside the house. The people had been feeding bears for years just like people have been doing for at least 48 years here in the study area. The townfolk knew about the feeding and never said anything to make trouble because the bears were not causing problems. That is similar to the situation here in the study area where about a dozen households have been feeding bears for years and there are fewer bear problems here than about anywhere we know where there are bears.
We had heard that authorities were about to kill the bears because the bears had lost their fear of people. Law enforcement people who visited the property got their smiling pictures taken with the bears. Bears being used to seeing people at their usual feeding site (where people had fed them for years) would be similar to places where bears are fed here in the study area. The bears are used to seeing people at those locations, but will flee from people they see in the woods. We’re learning that habituation, the jargon word for bears used to people, is specific to locations and situations.
We were glad to hear that the bears were spared due to a huge public outcry that included people on Facebook. It gives us hope for what we all can accomplish as a group, as we have repeatedly demonstrated.
Along that line, we had mixed feelings about this article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune http://www.startribune.com/sports/outdoors/112577444.html?elr=KArksi8cyaiUo8cyaiUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr. We were glad to see protection for radio-collared bears being considered a top issue for the new DNR commissioner, but the tone of the article could have been better. Calling the research bears marauders was wrong, considering that they cause less trouble than bears anywhere we know, as DNR records show. Team Protect and many of you have been working hard on this issue. Protecting the radio-collared bears is too important to ever give up on. We can rally strong as a group when the time is right. We’re hoping that the new governor, Mark Dayton, will ask his new commissioner to give us a call for more information on the subject. We can answer any question and put together a very strong case for protection if given the opportunity.
Meanwhile, we are working on codes for the den watch. We reviewed the data from last year and are making some refinements for the new situation with Lily, Hope, and likely a new litter.
Finally, we saw the thermometer rise with the addition of the $10,000 you won for the Bear Center from GiveMN.org a month ago and with your continued donations. As it stands, the debt is down to $126,817, and we learned that Team Bear has at least $500 in matching money for any donations given the last 24 hours of the year. We don’t know how to thank you except by continuing to do what you and we are all doing—working hard for black bear research and education.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center