After the update last night, Lily and family rested for a couple hours and then moved over a mile. Today, we were able to track them all the way. Between 7:39 and 9:18 PM, they moved six tenths of a mile. Along the way, they explored areas Lily used with Hope last year. These areas were familiar to us, too, of course. Then they followed a shoreline, walking on the ice for three tenths of a mile until about 10 PM. Tracks showed them moving along fast enough that their rear tracks were in front of their front foot tracks. Faith was loping to keep up. We were happy to see her energy this far into the trip. We are constantly encouraged by her energy, curiosity, and playfulness.
At one point, they headed halfway across a bay toward a peninsula Lily and Hope had used last year. Faith didn’t follow. Lily and Hope came back and they followed the shoreline farther around the end of the bay. Then they had a dilemma. Ahead was thin ice and open water. On shore was deep soft snow. They went ashore but sunk into the snow. It was easier to walk on the ice. They headed back out across the bay an eighth of a mile to the peninsula. They were headed straight for a tree where Lily and Hope have spent a lot of time last spring. Near shore, they found they had a problem—open water and thin ice. They stayed on the firmer ice out from shore and paralleled the shoreline until the ice came within two feet of shore. They gave it a try and went through the thin ice about 8 feet out from shore. Almost certainly, all got wet.
On shore, they backtracked 47 yards to the tree. They arrived by 10:06 PM and spent the night there. It wasn’t a white pine. It was a big red pine with a split top, which seems to be a redeeming feature for red pines. The U-shaped split is a comfortable place for a little bear to lie. The 6 droppings by the tree contained mostly snow fleas with some vegetation. The droppings had the sweet smell typical of snow flea droppings. A bonus near the tree was a rotted birch log full of white grubs 15-16 mm long. They shredded part of the log, leaving a few grubs for pictures.
When we caught up to them for an hour mid-morning today, they were scouring the forest floor for snow fleas and seemed to be doing quite well. However, about 4 PM, their GPS signal showed they moved off the peninsula and headed away.
Hope was a sweetheart. Faith climbed a tree and didn’t quite dare come closer to Lily and Hope with us there. Faith made some soft cries. Hope went to help. With Hope there, Faith came down. Hope urged her to join the group. Hope pulled her gently, and then Faith followed Hope to Lily. Faith repeatedly approached Hope to make contact. She never showed fear of Hope or cried out. The relationship these bears have developed is making us question our earlier thoughts that Hope was playing too rough. The cubs survived the critical early days of their lives with Hope and were able to nurse alongside her. Now, Faith seeks out Hope, follows her, and initiates play with her. This does not seem like something that would grow out of a history of abuse.
The video from a couple days ago shows more of that at http://ww
A Lily fan came up with a clever idea. Minnesota has no state mammal. Dana Coleman’s first grade class is sponsoring a petition on Care 2 to make the Black Bear Minnesota’s state mammal. This is also a great idea for a service learning project for students across Minnesota. It is a way students could make a difference through voting and learn something about social change and government. We’re hoping this becomes big and gives the Black Bear the honor of being Minnesota’s State Mammal. Here’s the link to the petition http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/BlackBear-MNState-Mammal/
You’re making a big difference for the International Wolf Center in the Chase Community Giving voting contest. Wolf Center administrators are appreciating your help. Most of the votes so far are from Lily fans. Their Director wrote: If you read the comments on the voting page, you will note that a HUGE number reference Lily, Hope, Faith and the N.A. Bear Center. The Bear Center is going all out to vote for us as evidenced by the voter comments. We are so grateful for this help toward the survival of wolves and the Center.
Here’s how to vote for the International Wolf Center on Chase. First, go to this link http://www.facebook.com/ChaseCommunityGiving and click “Like.” Then go to this link http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/411543539-international and register your vote for the International Wolf Center. Each of us gets only one vote through May 4. We have boosted the Wolf Center to second place. If we can keep them there, they’ll win $25,000 this round. If we boost them that high in the next round, they would win $400,000. They have helped us and now we are happy for this opportunity to help them and once again show the power of Lily’s army.
In the Readers Digest contest to win money for Ely, you have Ely solidly in 6th place. That means we’re in the money. To vote 10 times in a row each day, the link is http://wehearyouamerica.readersdigest.com/town.jsp?town=ELY&state=MN. This contest runs through May 16.
On top of all that you donated toward a plaque for Jason and sent oodles of goodies with elegant touches that make it hard to say thank you enough. In fact, there is so much so many of you do day after day that there is no way we can give proper thanks. All we can do is keep working to learn about bears and share what we know and feel thankful that you care.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center