As of 10 minutes ago, Lily and family were just 133 yards from their den of last winter. They were working a clearcut near there but didn’t check out the den according to the GPS locations. All the bears are safe.
It feels good to have Braveheart back online showing us where she is with her cubs. While radio-tracking her, we intercepted RC’s yearling Jim who also seemed to know Braveheart was near. And he was right. She came bursting out of the bushes and ran him up a white pine. She showed a lot of bluster but did no harm. Meanwhile, the sound of claws on bark said that Braveheart’s cubs were climbing another white pine. Then we saw Braveheart perfectly calm.
We had fun meeting former Viking All Pro Linebacker Matt Blair today. Pat and Donna Surface of Spiritwood Music introduced us. Matt took the photo that is the cover of their new album Songwriter 3 Homeward Bound that includes their new Bearwalker composition. We heard them perform it at an Eagles Nest function a couple weeks ago and it is touching and beautiful. We feel honored and thankful that they did that. We’ll have it in the North American Bear Center gift shop and in the web store by mid-July. This is the second song they wrote honouring the bears. The first was Makwa Manido, which is Anishinabe for Spirit Bear in honor of the study bears.
The picture above is of Lynn trying to steal Matt’s Super Bowl ring. He might have kept it but it was too heavy. It was obviously made for a football player. Matt is a great guy who has dedicated himself to helping people any way he can. He is a real role model for youth. The whole bunch, Pat, Donna, and Matt, are great fun. It was the brightest moment of the day for us. We’re going to turn him into a Lily fan tomorrow when Pat and Donna Surface bring him to the Bear Center.
In case you missed it last night, the full-length 3 DVD (3 hours) set of the “Bear Family and Me” is in the web store at http://www.bear.org/website/gift-shop.html?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage_images.tpl&product_id=841&category_id=8. It fills in details of the Lily and Hope story of 2010.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center