All five bears with GPS units are out in the boonies safe and foraging. The only radio-collared bear we saw today was little yearling Sharon who is shedding her winter fur and getting sleek legs and a sleek head, although she still has a lot of shedding to do yet on her neck, sides, and back. She is a sweetheart.
At the North American Bear Center, Honey is also shedding nicely on her head. The picture shows her head with the new dark fur coming in. Her neck, back, sides, and legs still have the sun-bleached, cinnamon-colored fur from last year.
Thank you again for your orders of the 3-DVD set of the full-length BBC version of “The Bear Family & Me” at http://www.bear.org/website/gift-shop.html?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage_images.tpl&product_id=841&category_id=8
The big lead you have built up for Soudan Underground Mine State Park is a demonstration of how the radio-collared study bears benefit the area. Your efforts are amazing. You have put this park into such a strong lead (113,942 votes) that they have more votes than the next 9 parks put together. However, we are surprised to see how many votes Bear Head Lake State Park is getting (11,279), putting them in 5th place! Last year, we were a little surprised to hear from DNR officials that there was no way to prove that their win was because of Lily fans. They said that their campers mentioned voting, and that the win could just as well be attributed to them. It is all good. We wanted them to win. The strong voting for Bear Head this year supports the DNR claim that their win last year was largely due to their own voters, not Lily fans and not radio-collared bears.
This year, Lily fans are supporting Soudan Underground Mine State Park because radio-collared bears live there, because they need to make repairs after a fire, and because of the scientific values of their underground mine. To vote, go to http://www.livepositively.com/#/americasparks/leaderboard . In this contest, we can vote over and over as many times as we can.
Important!
A second Soudan Park was entered on the Coke site and is causing some voting problems for fans. To make sure you are voting for the right park, you MUST use the search boxes above the map on the link and insert Soudan Underground Mine Park in the first box and in the city box, put "Soudan". Also, it is very important that you make sure the Soudan you are voting for has over 115,000 votes for the second one only has 4,000. The team has contacted the coke contest representatives and are waiting to hear from them and asked could these two be combined since they are the same park.
Thank you for all you do!
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center