On this cloudy, breezy, rainy day, Lily gave Faith a break. She stayed within a 180-yard diameter area and focused on her clover patch (picture taken May 20). She was separated from June by a small lake. June was also sedentary with her 2 cubs, at least until about 3 pm when she led her cubs 0.6 miles, avoiding Lily by at least a quarter mile. Could she be showing deference to Lily and her family?
Jo foraged and rested within a quarter mile area, while Juliet and her yearlings (?) moved 5.0 miles. Juliet was still with her yearlings 24 hours ago.
Today is RC day. RC (12) wore radio-collars when she was young but hasn’t worn one since April 2006. She is the queen of bluster, but her last contribution while wearing a radio-collar was precious close-up video in a den caring for 3 cubs. As the queen of bluster, she provides the best demonstrations of nervous displays. She doesn’t wear a radio-collar because we can’t find anyone who dares to put one on this nervous bear any more. She is a faithful mother and a terror to any bear who comes close. Some of the chases she has given to interlopers have been spectacular, leaving our hearts in our throats as we fear what will happen if she catches the hapless bear. We don’t know of any serious injuries, though. Being nervous, she spends more than her share of time up trees with her cubs.
The one exception to RC being a faithful mother was when she gave birth to her first cub, a female, that was lost in June 2003, reminiscent of Lily and Hope. On June 23, 2003, RC had swollen, hard breasts that became less swollen over the next 5 days. We believe she lost or abandoned her cub in the week before the 23rd. She began attracting males—One-eyed Jack, BBKing, Big Harry, and Lumpy. By late June, mating season is nearly over, but RC didn’t know that. She continued to attract males later into the summer than any other bear. This reminds us of how long Lily attracted males while she was alone. Sometime along the way, RC mated. She produced 3 cubs in 2004 (2 males, 1 female), 3 more in 2006 (1 male, 2 females), 3 more in 2008 (Sweet Jo and 2 males), 3 more in 2010 (3 males), and she still has those three with her now. Of her 13 cubs, 10 may still survive, although we don’t know, of course, about the 4 males that dispersed from the study area at 1 to 2 years of age as is usual. Deceased ones include the initial cub and 2 that were shot at 1 and 2 years of age.
RC was never a bear we could walk with. She was too nervous, like her mother Shadow.
This just in: Shadow has 3 cubs, described as little, sexes unknown. The person got only a brief look before cautious Shadow sent them into deep cover.
Bad news from the legislature. After a strong effort and thoughtful letters from Team Protect and a host of Lily fans, the conference committee removed Representative Phyllis Kahn’s amendment. Commissioner Landwehr emailed people who contacted him that the DNR would send letters to hunters with permits for the study area. We are thankful for that, of course.
The problem is that we absolutely need protection for radio-collared bears wearing ribbons. The whole future of the research, education, and the North American Bear Center hangs on these few bears. A concern of some hunters is that, if these bears are protected, people will want protection for other groups of game animals. Our goal is simply to protect these few bears. Nothing more.
T. R.’s Facebook page for registering your comments to protect the research bears is at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Protect-Minnesotas-Research-Bears/160331730697185. The more comments the better from anywhere. We especially need comments from hunters. T. R. will bring your comments to the officials.
Another need is for Minnesota residents to call, write, and/or email their state representatives and state senators to let them know you favor protection for these radio-collared bears. To find your local legislators, here is a legislator finder http://www.gis.leg.mn/OpenLayers/districts/.
If you haven’t already signed the petition to make the black bear Minnesota’s state mammal, the petition is at http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/BlackBear-MNState-Mammal/.
It’s a tight race to stay in the big money (10th place or above) in the Chase contest at http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/411543539-international-wolf-center?src=twitter. We’re trying to get the International Wolf Center back into 10th place and are just 40 votes short at this point. You have done amazing, coming up with a thousand more votes than in the first round. Two days to go.
Thank you for all you are doing.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center