Your response to the update was right on, and a reason it is good to have so many minds out there figuring out what to do. You said two things—students and media. Team Protect is alerting the 67 schools we know of in Minnesota that are following the Den Cam—alerting them that letters are needed.
Someone said, “Why not send copies of letters to newspapers and TV stations?” Yes, they will see that it is something of high interest and a story or two could get the public mobilized. A lot of these things go nowhere unless there is a strong public outcry.
We were disappointed to hear today that the DNR has instructed Dr. Dave Garshelis, the state bear biologist, not to talk to us about protection. Why is open discussion being discouraged? It makes us worry. Dave was instructed to refer all inquiries about protection of radio-collared bears to Dennis Simon, Chief, Wildlife Management Section, MN DNR, 500 Lafayette Road, St Paul, MN 55155, phone 651-259-5237. It may be that he is the point man on this issue. It could be that his recommendation will catch the ear of the Commissioner.
Our goal is to not only have the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources make it illegal to shoot radio-collared bears but to come out strongly on the issue. We want to work with the DNR, not against them. We have always thought there is so much to be gained by working together, and it is still our goal.
We heard another tidbit today. A member of Team Protect emailed the DNR Commissioner Landwehr and got an automated response saying the commissioner would prefer hard copies. It sounds like hard copies will have a greater impact.
In writing your letters, don’t worry about making them perfect. If there are grammatical errors and misspellings, that’s human. What is important is that you come through. Tell them what these bears mean to you, to your kids, to your grandkids. Tell how your kids are following these bears in school if they are. Tell how you follow the bears with your family and friends, learning, questioning, and talking about them. Tell them what you have learned. Not every letter has to include everything. But heartfelt is more important than cold facts. We sent them those, and a summary of facts is available at http://www.bear.org/website/images/stories/Documents/Why_protection_of_radio-collared_bears_is_needed_now.pdf. We also sent them these pictures and words about ribbon-markers, as can be seen at http://www.bear.org/website/images/stories/Documents/Radio-collars_with_durable_visible_ribbons.pdf.
We also tried to give a sample of heartfelt comments. We emailed the commissioner the sample of comments we gleaned from your birthday cards last April. These are part of the Lily and Hope Exhibit in a section called “Den Cam Viewers Speak” available at http://www.bear.org/website/images/stories/Documents/Den_Cam_Viewers_Speak.pdf.
A Lily fan asked, “Would letters from other researchers and Natural Resource Commissioners help if they were not from Minnesota? Would putting pressure on the IRRRB help since you are in a county that they serve and the NABC is a tourist destination? Would telephone calls help?” We say, “Anything can help.”
At the same time, I am requesting a meeting with Dennis Simon in a package we will drop in the mail tomorrow. It contains a packet of letters from Miss Devoe’s class in Florida, a copy of Bearwalker, a request to meet with him, and an invitation to come here and meet the bears.
For this coming week, we want to concentrate on letters from Minnesotans. The following week is the time for the second wave—letters from all over talking about what the bears mean and about tourism. This should not be only a Minnesota issue. The tourism and education angles reach worldwide.
As we watch Lily, Hope, and the cubs express their personalities, we realize once again how much the radio-collared bears have to show us and how much there is to learn. If these bears were shot, we couldn’t just put a radio-collar on another bear and go forward unaffected. We need some continuity of data to publish scientific papers. Protection is a necessity here for science, education, and more.
Thank you for all you do. A brief video of Lily and her cubs from today is online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEKlnQ7jaTI.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center