Gentle June’s eye cannot get better. It’s ironic that the bear that opened many people’s eyes to the true nature of black bears will lose one of her own eyes to human intolerance.
Videos of June digging a den, raising cubs, foraging for wild foods, etc. are central to the educational displays at the North American Bear Center, and she's featured in the BBC’s Bearwalker of the Northwoods. She is also the bear Sue has worked most closely with for the past 8 years.
When we first discovered the injury, we could feel a BB under the skin just above her left eyebrow. We knew what happened—likely a small gauge shotgun with fine shot. We felt her all over at the time and found nothing more. Now, the BB above the eyebrow has worked its way out, but small scabs that have appeared on her neck and shoulder make us wonder if those are from BB’s, too. We wonder if there is a small, hand-held, quiet, digital metal detector that could help us better assess the situation.
The picture from July 25th (right) shows a hole in the eye where it would destroy the cornea and leave the retina damaged or unprotected. The picture from today (below) shows the eye clouding up, becoming opaque, and looking like One-eyed Jack’s eye, although the opaque look could be due to a covering of dried pus. Whatever it is, anything that makes the eye less exposed to light may be a blessing until the unprotected retina can die and become less light sensitive. June shuts that eye in the sun.
There is nothing anyone can do except give her antibiotics under a veterinarian’s direction to alleviate infection. We mix the antibiotics into a small amount of sweetened condensed milk and hike in to her each morning. Thankfully, the old ‘spoonful of sugar’ maxim works for bears too.
Very sad! Why did it happen? We can only guess. The feeding that has taken place in this community since 1961 has reduced nuisance complaints 80 percent compared with the statewide average, and house break-ins are very rare. But nothing is fool-proof. Sunflower seeds are a highly preferred bear food, and everyone knows that sunflower seeds can attract bears—especially where there is a concentration of birdfeeders. Landowners have the legal (though not ethical) right to shoot bears in “defense of life and property.” In this community, that's rarely done. But someone did.
The great thing about this community is that most residents care about wildlife. Their attitudes toward bears after 50 years of becoming familiar with them are perhaps tops in the nation. But there are exceptions. A man, now deceased, bragged about shooting two big bears in the face with a .410 shotgun loaded with fine shot. The bears were simply eating dandelions in his neighbor’s yard. Then we met One-eyed Jack with an eye that looks like June’s, and we met Lumpy whose eye had disintegrated. Now it’s Gentle June.
All we can do is continue to educate, enabling people to learn directly from the bears themselves. The bears changed the attitudes of this community over the past half century, and it is the bears that will continue to do that. The bears are the real educators.
Meanwhile, we grieve for June’s loss of sight.
Two days remain to get your thoughts to us via the survey and get a high res picture of Faith when you complete the survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7S5B2GZ .
To vote for Soudan Underground Mine State Park, go to http://www.livepositively.com/#/americasparks/leaderboard and vote over and over. This contest closes September 6th. Your support for Soudan Underground Mine State Park is much appreciated by us, DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr, the local residents, and the research bears!
Business owners continue to give kudos to Lilypad Picnickers now a week after the picnic is over.
Thank you for all you do.
—Lynn Rogers and Sue Mansfield, Biologists, Wildlife Research Institute and North American Bear Center