It takes bears to make a truly great day, and today we had bears! Happy bears and happy bear researchers. We were happy to see Lily, Hope, and Faith doing so well. We had to go out and change Lily’s GPS batteries. They were still in the same spot by the white pine. Lily was same as ever. She let us do our work, including taking a heart rate (80) and checking for good swelling of the mammaries. Hope was a sweetheart. We couldn’t see Faith at first. Then we found her sleeping behind the white pine. When she woke up, we found her to be an energetic and playful cub.
She made us rethink some of the rough play we mentioned in recent updates. If play with Hope was all that harmful, we’d think Faith would avoid her. She seeks her out. She follows Hope. She initiates play. They spar with open jaws. When she stands up, Hope lets her push her onto her back and climb up on her chest to go face to face with the jawing. We watched a lot of play. It was nothing but gentle.
Faith looks so vulnerable with big Hope and Lily, but she is safe. They carefully step over her and always seem to know where she is. She climbs up on their backs.
We can’t wait to post the video Sue took. She got some good scenes. Please check for recently uploaded ‘bearstudy’ videos on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/bearstudy#g/u.
Faith is at an extremely cute stage. The picture of her peeking around the big white pine is precious, and it turned out very sharp on our little point and shoot.
Wolf tracks came within 45 yards of the bears, but there was no sign that the wolves bothered them.
Behind the scenes, the Den-watch Team is going over their records and we are looking at corresponding video archives to see what happened in the days and weeks before Jason died. We are also looking at pictures taken on April 8, 11, and 12. Just trying to make some sense of it all.
Rhonda Hennis flew up from North Carolina to go to the capitol (picture) with Mary Auldrich and hand deliver letters about protection to the governor and commissioner, among others. None saw them, but Rhonda and Mary spent time with a governor’s aid. Rhonda visited Dana Coleman’s first grade class where WCCO-TV News filmed the students studying bears. The story will be aired in May and is about the values of the bear research and the need for protection. It should help show that the research bears belong to all Minnesotans, including students and all the people who want to learn from them.
Team Bear found another opportunity to show what we can do for Ely. It’s Chase Community Giving that you pulled off amazing victories last summer for the Bear Center and the Research. We’re not eligible because we won last year and because we don’t have an operating budget anywhere near the minimum million dollars that is part of the new rules. Operating budgets now have to be between one and ten million, and we don’t know any bear organization with that kind of budget. But there is one organization in Ely that is eligible, and this is a good opportunity to pay them back for what they have done for the Bear Center.
It’s the International Wolf Center http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox7DBJiQM_Q that has always stood ready to help us. They helped us get started. Their founders are two of our biggest donors. We each believe that the stronger the other is, the more it helps both attract people to Ely to learn about bears and wolves, both of which share a long history of misunderstanding and persecution. The chairman of their board is on our advisory board, and our chairman is on their advisory board. They helped us create our Bears Versus Wolves exhibit, and Lynn provides wolf photos for their International Wolf Magazine. Their founder Dr. L. David Mech (Dr. Wolf) was Lynn’s best man 31 years ago. Together, the two organizations obtained a joint grant for advertising this year. We’re hoping that between us Lily fans and the Wolf Center’s followers, we all can obtain a grant for them. We know they would do the same in return. They do a great job as you can see when you’re here for the Lilypad Picnic.
Speaking of the picnic, the more names we learn, the more we look forward to putting faces with them at the picnic.
In the Readers Digest contest, you still have Ely solidly in the money in sixth place. To vote 10 times in a row each day, the link is http://wehearyouamerica.readersdigest.com/town.jsp?town=ELY&state=MN.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center