Lily showed renewed energy last night. She led Hope and Faith on a 2 ¼-mile 6 ½-hour odyssey between 5:29 PM on May 3rd and 12:10 AM on May 4th. We thought of little Faith trying to keep up on the little milk she is getting. We checked the family at 8:30 AM this morning to see if Faith was with them. Yes! All three were at the base of a big white pine. Faith was lying down, which wasn’t surprising. We took a brief look across an opening from 40-50 yards away and left. Their GPS locations showed they were still in that vicinity as of 7:41 PM this evening. The opening might have some early vegetation sprouting. Sunny and 63 today, so sprouting should accelerate.
Jo continues to stay in her 230-yard diameter area—at least until 6 hours ago when she stopped sending GPS locations. We’ll check on her GPS unit tomorrow.
After June led Lynn and crew on a merry walkabout yesterday without a sighting, Sue connected with her at a big white pine today and gave her a GPS unit. She has two robust cubs (picture). At least one is a female. When they nursed, they each used their own side like Hope and Faith do.
Dana Coleman’s first grade class petition to make the black bear Minnesota’s state mammal has 1,740 votes and has become a bill in the legislature. Here’s the story http://www.startribune.com/politics/blogs/121182144.html . Thank you to Senator Barb Goodwin and Representative Carolyn Laine for authoring the bill. To sign the petition and show support, go to http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/BlackBear-MNState-Mammal/ .
In the Readers Digest contest to win money for Ely, we have Ely holding 6th place with over 638,000 votes—over 220,000 votes ahead of 7th place. The link to vote 10 times in a row each day through May 16 is http://wehearyouamerica.readersdigest.com/town.jsp?town=ELY&state=MN .
In the Chase contest to win money for the International Wolf Center, you have the Wolf Center solidly in 3rd place with less than 2 hours to go. To vote, 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. What is unusual here is that the Wolf Center is recognizing our help and saying thank you, thank you, thank you, and a hundred more thank you’s to all of you. The Wolf Center sees that you are a “HUGE” (their capitals!) part of their being in third palce and they are giving the unabashed thanks that you deserve. Thanks to you, the Wolf Center will win $25,000 and move on to Round 2. There, the Wolf Center will submit their “Big Idea” for everyone to vote for between May 19 and 25. If we can hold them in third place again for that one week of voting, they will get $300,000.
Thank you for all you are doing.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center