After spending the morning around their bed, Lily and Hope visited the den in early afternoon to drink from the pool of water forming outside it. Then things took a turn for the worse. At 1:25 PM CT, we saw the inside of Lily’s mouth as her jaws closed over the camera. The camera is encased in a clear plastic housing so it is safe, but we haven’t been able to manipulate it since. She may have tugged at a cable in the process and discombobulated something. It’s aimed at the den and can’t be moved.
The bears have cruised past the stuck camera several times. We saw Hope and one of the cubs climb on top of the den, but none of the bears went inside. A quick switch to the inside camera told why—standing water (photo). When they left the den days ago, photos showed dark wetness but no pool. Now, it’s worse.
The occasional cub cry says they stayed around through the afternoon, and at 5:26 PM, at least three of them came for another drink. We could hear Jason screaming in the distance. He still is not as prone to follow as Faith is. They seem to still be in the area but we have no way of knowing if they are back at their bed site or if they have moved on to another.
Another problem is that the snowmobile is getting repaired and we won’t have it back until tomorrow at 3. We’ll fix the camera as soon as we can get out there.
A Lily fan discovered an old Wild Kingdom TV program of Lynn and Marlin Perkins visiting a den on March 21, 1980. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHK51fCX2kk&feature=youtu.be The beginning shows Lynn reading his first script—reading like a machine gun, proud that for once he didn’t have to say um and ahh. So bad. His wife Donna held the cue cards. By the time the producers saw the fast-talking part back in Chicago, it was too late to redo it. Lynn was glad to meet Marlin who became a friend. The look on Marlin’s face as he held the cubs tells why this shoot was one of his all-time favorites. They played that scene at his 75th birthday party and asked Lynn to call in and say Happy Birthday, which he did. He was soon upstaged, though, by next caller—President Ronald Reagan. Everything about Marlin is a good memory.
In the Readers Digest contest to win money for Ely, no one behind us is registering votes like you are—not New York, Chicago, Minneapolis, or any other town. The link to vote 10 times in a row each day is http://wehearyouamerica.readersdigest.com/town.jsp?town=ELY&state=MN.
We hope to have another video posted later tonight! Please check for recent ‘bearstudy’ video uploads on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/bearstudy#g/u.
Thank you for all you are doing.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center